What is something simple that you do to decompress and keep yourself centered?
I personally enjoy taking long walks. It doesn't matter if it's in the woods, on a bike trail, or just through town. There's something nice about just meandering and being alone with your thoughts while still being immersed in the outside world.
There was a period in my life that lasted about 4 or 5 years when I refused to admit that I needed to decompress. I had multiple employers, spent 6 days a week leaving before the sun came up and coming home after dark. I was drinking upwards of 10 coffees per day plus loads of soft drinks. When I did get in I would watch series or movies late into the night. I gained weight and developed anxiety. I also began having migraines multiple times a week. Then I developed pericarditis. I lived like that for a long time. Just popping Xanax to get through the day.
Finally, I managed to see a neurologist who confirmed my migraines (unilateral acephalgic etc. etc.) and gave me a doctor's note and strict instructions. The TL;DR of those instructions was: REST.
So, I gave in and admitted defeat. That was the first step.
Very quickly my stress levels dropped. It took a few months for the pericarditis to stop.
I stopped all caffeine and other stimulants. Stopped the Xanax. Energy levels exploded.
Step 2 was doing something with that energy. Something I hate with a deep passion: EXERCISE.
After almost 5 years of thinking my life would just be like that it only took 6 weeks for things to get back on track. I deflated and dropped from 108kg to 82kg.
You didn't need to story, but everyone else here is right. Rest and moving your body helped. Mentally, I was even more creative. I was friendlier. I was even recommended to apply for a promotion.
If you need to decompress, I think sleep is the best. If the sandman ain't visiting, then combine with movement and fresh air.
I'm a very flitty sort of person, and can be pushed off balance decently easily. My job is pretty fast paced, so I can't just go for a walk or meditate for 10 minutes. So my rule is to not focus on everything coming up, but just focus on what's directly in front of me. Which, yeah, I know sounds dumb but it honestly does work.
Instead of thinking "Oh, that line of customers is long" -> "Oh god I'm not going to be able to serve the customers fast enough" -> "oh my god they're going to leave and I'm going to get in trouble for not being fast enough."
I don't even acknowledge the length of the line. Look directly ahead, and focus on what you're doing right now. Shit will always be coming in from every direction, but quick steps make for shorter journeys.
Outside of work, hobbies, crochet, gardening. Getting in touch with nature is a big one for me.
Just spending time at the park or near water. I love walking too, and biking. Just listening to music… Breathing techniques, guided meditations, jogging, spending time in nature. Lately I started practicing self-reiki and it’s amazing. Also eating a plant-based diet. Listening to mantras.
The absolute daily bare minumum: Drink 2 liters of water. Eat as little processed food as possible and as little sugar as possible. Yoga for 10 minutes. Intensive breathing meditation. Sleep for at least 6 hours a night and fall asleep before 11.
On top of that, walk, jog, or run 2 miles every day and read things to expand your mind.
Prayer, typically on my front porch, with a cup of coffee. Biking has also become a big thing for me. I don't live near the sea but have lots of lakes nearby, so sitting on a beach also.
My favorite is to smoke in the back yard with a little fire in my Solo Stove going. Preferably with marshmallows. I can zone out for hours out there. I live in town, but there is greenery along most of my fence, so it *feels *secluded even if it really isn't. My neighbors have a new fountain they put in a little pond in their front yard, too, so I get to hear the water :)
Washing my face! Sometimes something as simple as some refreshing skincare, and maybe a little something extra - like a scrub or sheet mask, makes me feel calmer and relaxed. Paired with a warm drink like tea or coffee, this usually helps soothe me when I’m anxious.
Well, when I'm at home a cup of tea usually does the trick. When I'm outside on the other hand, I like to take long walks, I just pick a direction and start walking without worrying about where I'm going and stop thinking, maybe with some music in my headphones. I do this until my legs start hurting, and by that point I feel better.
I unfortunately have rarely time for a long walk, but I do love them.
As I spend a lot of time in the kitchen cooking dinner I use this time as a little me-time. I pour myself a glass (one is always sufficient) of white wine, put on a podcast and then cook.
I have a few things I like to do! In no particular order:
Make a pour over coffee. From measuring, grinding, pouring, and all, it takes 10 to 15 mins. It's the perfect amount of time to make for a break for something. Then you get all the nice aromas, warm mug, and caffeine general helps stabilize my mood too.
Walking or sitting outside! Gets the blood moving, change in air, sometimes you hear the birds or insects.
Take a relaxing bath. You can go extra hard with bathbombs for fragrances and stuff too.
Light candles, incense, dim lights, put on jazz or some other nice background music. Dim moods and calming smells and good sounds help bring good sensory experiences to block out any bad feelings.
Lose myself in my instruments. Playing anything requires my focus and forces me to turn off my depression spiral thought patterns and focus on creating something wholesome and pure.
Put on some music and sing your motherfucking heart out. 👍
This is always a good idea, but it's an especially a good idea if you have a lot of energy that you can't just will away or let go of. Sometimes when you can't calm down or slow down, you can redirect and reframe that energy instead, until you've vented it out.
I do meditation. Not mindfulness because I need dissociation for my chronic pain management. I basically do a version that I altered to stay as disconnected from my body as possible and just focus on emotions and observing them.
I also use a yoga ball sometimes, helps me regulate as well
Edit: I am physically disabled please do not peddle me a CBT based chatbot or whatvever.
To manage chronic pain you might want to look into the app Curable, my therapist recommended it. It’s a very well-designed app, there’s also a free trial (it’s under $100 for a year). It helps you reprogram your nervous system, but it also feels very supportive. It’s like care and support whenever you need it. I highly recommended it. 👍
You can't cure what's causes by a real physical disease causing dislocations in my body, I can't reprogram my body into making my connective tissue actually work work. I can't reprogram my brain into being cured as the name suggests
To me this app looks from a cursory glance like the type of stuff I get peddled by people who don't believe in my disability and instead call all chronic pain "psychosomatic". I know that mental health can cause physical symptoms including pain and worsen it. But that doesn't mean all pain is psychosomatic.
If people like me are not careful with what they say to certain people I can be undiagnosed with my physical disease by a therapist who knows nothing of said disease
You’re right that when you said ‘chronic pain’ I assumed that it was more like the usual chronic pain that people experience today, this app would be helpful for that. I spoke too soon and didn’t have enough information about your condition, sorry. But I meant well, no need to get aggressive… But it’s also to manage pain in general (there’s a free trial if you want). And it’s an extremely well-designed app, like I said, recommended by a therapist, and it’s helped a lot of people including me. I never said that all pain is psychosomatic.
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