I remember thinking during my time as an undergraduate that taking a stress management class would be an easy A and that it would provide me with a tool bag of coping skills that I could use. I was a college sophomore at the time and my coping skills consisted of eating chocolate and running. Luckily, the two seemed to cancel each other out as a girl in my early 20’s but I knew that I needed more skills to add into that repertoire of mine. While the class did not pan out to be the easy A that I thought (we had to design a 12 week, evidence-based corporate stress management course that included lesson plans), I did learn a lot of new ways to manage my stress. Each week, classmates presented on different forms of stress management. I want to share with you all the 10 most unique stress management skills that I learned in this course. Let me know in the comments which ones you like to add to your coping skills tool bag.
Skydiving
Yep! That is right, skydiving can be a form of stress management. I had my own reservations about this one especially as one who is naturally afraid of heights falling out of a plane several hundred feet from earth seemed more like it might be a cause for stress than a way to manage it. So, I decided to experiment with this recommended form of coping with stress. Next thing I know, there I was, attached to a man much taller than me and larger than me, flying in a plane I was about to jump out of. When he stood up, I was forced up as well, my feet dangling off the floor. The initial jump was a little nerve wracking but once I got out of the plane and was soaring there was a gentle breeze and it was really peaceful and beautiful. I definitely gained perspective for life in more ways than one.
Massaging your earlobes
Again, I was a little skeptical of this one. But apparently ear reflexology is a thing. The official term is “auricular therapy” but the basic premise is that you can massage your earlobes for 10 minutes and it helps reduce your stress. I found this one to be especially beneficial when used with aromatherapy. I like to put essential oils on my fingers before messaging my earlobe for 10 minutes .
Ted Talks
Listening to inspirational Ted Talks can be helpful in reducing stress. One of my personal favorite talks is Brene Brown’s Vulnerability talk.
Color Therapy
This is the idea that colors create electrical impulse in your brain which stimulate biochemical and hormonal processes in your body. These processes can either stimulate or calm you. This can be done by painting your room certain colors, coloring with certain colors, or wearing glasses with different color lenses to bring about your desired mood. Personally I have not tried this stress management theory, but am intrigued by it.
Visiting an aquarium
Watching fish in an aquarium or just getting yourself a fish tank at home helps to lower stress levels in the body and relaxes the brain.