Exorcising the Stress Demon
Coping with work-related stress is like dealing with an over-sized Halloween Pumpkin. It's messy, it doesn't smell great, and often, working with it is just as hard as letting sit around. Only problem is, if you don't deal with it, it rots.
Another similarity is that stress can be made into pie. Delicious pie.
Forgive the extended metaphor, but I'm going to go ahead and blame my inability to describe stress on, well, the stress. I'm overloaded with more work than I know what to do with and I many of the graduate students I work with. There's something about fall semester, weeks 8-10, that just brings out the worst in all of us.
In the past week or so, I've been looking to add a simple, low maintenance hobby to my routine. Here were the nominees.
1. Hacky sack. I had one of these all last spring and used to love playing with it, even for five minutes, while I took a study break. My old sack was destroyed when my apartment flooded over the summer.
2. Darts. Although my friend Bridget assured me that playing darts is too hickish for me, I thought it might be fun to have a simple recreational implement like a dart board in my house.
3. Putting thingy. Ever seen those golf putter deals for people's living rooms where you can putt into a trap and then it shoots the ball out? I thought about getting one of those.
All three of these "hobbies" seem like easy ways to have a little physical activity in a space where I can run right back to my computer and work on a term paper or whatever once I get back my motivation. (Taking a long walk definitely kills stress, but you always think clearest when you're farthest from home.)
I'm curious what other people do when they're in my situation. I've heard half a dozen graduate students say their hobby used to be "reading" before they came to school. What do people do know to kill the stress demon? Stress ball? Alcohol? Play with dog? Pot?
Another similarity is that stress can be made into pie. Delicious pie.
Forgive the extended metaphor, but I'm going to go ahead and blame my inability to describe stress on, well, the stress. I'm overloaded with more work than I know what to do with and I many of the graduate students I work with. There's something about fall semester, weeks 8-10, that just brings out the worst in all of us.
In the past week or so, I've been looking to add a simple, low maintenance hobby to my routine. Here were the nominees.
1. Hacky sack. I had one of these all last spring and used to love playing with it, even for five minutes, while I took a study break. My old sack was destroyed when my apartment flooded over the summer.
2. Darts. Although my friend Bridget assured me that playing darts is too hickish for me, I thought it might be fun to have a simple recreational implement like a dart board in my house.
3. Putting thingy. Ever seen those golf putter deals for people's living rooms where you can putt into a trap and then it shoots the ball out? I thought about getting one of those.
All three of these "hobbies" seem like easy ways to have a little physical activity in a space where I can run right back to my computer and work on a term paper or whatever once I get back my motivation. (Taking a long walk definitely kills stress, but you always think clearest when you're farthest from home.)
I'm curious what other people do when they're in my situation. I've heard half a dozen graduate students say their hobby used to be "reading" before they came to school. What do people do know to kill the stress demon? Stress ball? Alcohol? Play with dog? Pot?
posted by Matt Lavin
at
9:19 AM
2 Comments:
I tend to organize things when I'm stressed. Last night I spent hours organizing my music into an updated "Road Trip Mix" for when I head back home - there's 2000 songs in it now. Last weekend I took everything out of my storage closet and reorganized my wrapping paper and Halloween decorations. I love having an organized life, so organizing things makes me feel better about said life and also provides a much-needed break from school work. I find that I need to do something productive as a stress reliever; if I just do something "fun", I feel worried and guilty the whole time that I'm not getting things done. But if I'm doing laundry or cleaning behind the toaster, I feel justified in taking a break from work!
Judith
Yoga. And blogging....
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