Decompressing: There She Blows

 

 

“It is so funny that we women question our stress-relief strategies and feel shame around them: “Am I doing this right?  Am I doing this wrong?”  There’s no right or wrong way to live life or relieve pressure.  It is taking a break…the only measure that matters I, “Does this bring me joy?  Does this calm me down?” – Susie Moore, life coach and author.

Why do women feel guilty when they nurture self by taking time for ourselves?  Sometimes we need to self-soothe.  Look at all the extra stress that is put on us, in life, for these last few years. 

Arting is my way of soothing self.  My little garden and its twinkling lights, soothe me.  Having a place, my own special sacred space in my gazebo is the place I go to self-soothe.  Not everything we do means life or death to anyone or anything.  We do not need to do it all all of the time.  We need to be able to decompress.  And, it is NOT a guilty pleasure.  Self-care is learning to decompress.  Decompressing is self-care.  If we do not decompress, we are creating pressure cooker and building up negative reactions.  When we blow, and it can be over the tiniest of things, we do something that we should feel guilty about.

Creativity through arting, in any genre, is a way to decompress.  I am addicted to that creative one and know , absolutely, that this is a way to decompress.  For a time, in the creative process, the world goes away.

Sometimes, watching a series, sometimes right from beginning to end in one sitting, can afford us the opportunity to just be, to just allow the calming slow spread of the series to envelop us for a time.  One of my favorite series is Ricky Gervais, “Derek!”   It is such a sweet series.  It touches right to the furthest reaches of the heart.  It might bring a tear or two, but that too, is stress relief. 

 Once upon a time, I used to work myself into calmness.  I could clean a house faster than ants could dig a new tunnel.  I blogged before about me being really upset about something and my granddaughter, sitting by her mother, watching me work like a banshee, said to her mother, “Oh, look, mom, Grandma is mad cleaning!”  I am known for this, right into the next generation. 

Whatever it takes and does no harm, is what you should do when the stress is building.  Always know when to take a break.  Yes, it is disconcerting when someone says: “Excuse me for a moment!”: and then walks away, but the alternative is way worse.    Giving yourself a brak is nothing to be ashamed of.  You are saving yourself from saying something inappropriate and saving others from a serious vent that has nothing to do with them.

There are little things you can do to cope with Life when life hands you rotten lemons you cannot even make juice with.  What are your little stress relievers?  

©Carol Desjarlais 7.4.22