Stress is one of those things that we all experience… like it or not! No matter what is going on in our lives, at some point in time we are hit with stress. Sometimes it’s just a little and we manage just fine. Other times it is so overwhelming we feel like we are caught in a revolving door (at least that’s how I have felt in the past).
I have a quick and funny story to share about how my mother-in-law (MIL) and I dealt with stress one night after a looooong day at Walter Reed (when my DH was there after being wounded last year).
We were about a month into our stay at Walter Reed and life had been pretty intense. My MIL and I returned to our room at the Mologne House (a hotel for families that is about a 5 minute walk to WR Hospital) about midnight and we were exhausted. I started gathering up the clutter about the room (I am not a clean-freak, but clutter drives me bonkers!) and part of the clutter happened to be a "bag full of bags" from the commissary.
I tossed this bag ‘o bags at my MIL, who then tossed it back to me. And the volleyball game began! She sat on her bed and I sat on mine while we batted this bag ‘o bags back and forth. This may sound really corny, but at the time it was the funniest darn thing we had done in a long time! And just to make things more interesting, we decided to use our non-dominant hand only… then only our feet… then our heads (but that didn’t do much, other than "help" us fall off the beds onto our faces).
This little adventure went on for about an hour. We laughed so hard our faces hurt and we had tears running down our cheeks! It was pure stress release!!! And we needed it – BIG TIME!
What are some silly things you have done to combat stress?
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Heheh, the "bag o' bags" came in handy for me, too, when I was angry over something one day and had no way to release it. I hammered on that until it fell off the hook. :)
Unfortunately, it took less time for it to fall off the hook than it did to relieve stress. Later that week, my girlfriends took me out for karaoke. I drank a gin and tonic and sang some Evanescence songs (I even got some cheers!) and gabbed with the girls. It helped a lot. :)
tickle my kid! those giggles are great! and it is 02:20 and I'm not sleeping so reading SB helps too!
I don't really have a funny stress reliever. I either draw, write, or find a corner to just sit and cry in.
Our puppy is an awesome stress reliever. She is just so cute, and makes such adorable faces with all of her different expressions. So sometimes she and I will run amok around the house or I will jump and tackle her and wiggle her all around "tickling" her. Or we play with her favorite stuffed animal, her duck. It works wonders, because you can't help but feel better after about ten minutes of pretending with the dog. (Side note, it also works when I'm mad at hubby.)