BigMoneyJim
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Charles' recent post reminds me that one big stress reliever is to stop watching/reading news. Or to at least selectively read. News is a business; if everything sounded hunky-dory everyone would find better things to do than listen to the news.
On the Nords/sgeeeee discussion I also frequently wonder how much of my perception of today's events are due to being more aware today than when I was 10 in 1980. (The Iran hostage crisis is the first of my political memories.)
For the original topic, for short-term stress relief I have a few solitary activities like computer games or watching movies that let me zone out and escape a bit. The games I play for stress relief are usually intricate fantasy games (Civilization III) or logical or geometric puzzle games (minesweeper, tetris). For long-term stress relief I have to rearrange my perspective and sometimes adjust my role.
For job-related stress the big thing was divorcing my self-identity from my job. Also becoming debt-free and escaping the feeling of being a week-to-week wage slave has freed up my stress a lot. The thought of losing a job can still be a bit scary, but I know it's not a catastrophic event for me anymore. This made me more able to let irritating things roll off me at work since I know I'm not stuck with the situation. That was somewhat counterintuitive to me; I would've previously thought I could take more BS if I had to, but apparently I can stand more if I know I don't have to put up with it.
On the Nords/sgeeeee discussion I also frequently wonder how much of my perception of today's events are due to being more aware today than when I was 10 in 1980. (The Iran hostage crisis is the first of my political memories.)
For the original topic, for short-term stress relief I have a few solitary activities like computer games or watching movies that let me zone out and escape a bit. The games I play for stress relief are usually intricate fantasy games (Civilization III) or logical or geometric puzzle games (minesweeper, tetris). For long-term stress relief I have to rearrange my perspective and sometimes adjust my role.
For job-related stress the big thing was divorcing my self-identity from my job. Also becoming debt-free and escaping the feeling of being a week-to-week wage slave has freed up my stress a lot. The thought of losing a job can still be a bit scary, but I know it's not a catastrophic event for me anymore. This made me more able to let irritating things roll off me at work since I know I'm not stuck with the situation. That was somewhat counterintuitive to me; I would've previously thought I could take more BS if I had to, but apparently I can stand more if I know I don't have to put up with it.
