Stress Relieving Activities

Why are you stressed?

Looking for some stress relieving activities to help ground and center you? We talked about how technology has the effect of stressing us out though we may not initially recognize it. This happens because technology pulls us away from the present moment. Think about it, you’re driving your car and talking to your child in the backseat. Suddenly your phone makes a noise or flashes on the console. You have to literally talk yourself out of picking that phone up and looking at it to see why it’s making that noise or blinking.

Then a bunch of other stuff flashes through your mind. You have a fleeting thought of how your child must feel having to endure you constantly looking at your phone while he or she is talking. Then you worry that someone may be trying to contact you and it could be important. Maybe it’s your husband. What if something happened on the way home from work? The one time you decide not to answer your phone; maybe it’s an emergency.

As you’re probably realizing, being around smartphones all the time is actually pretty stressful. So if you’re looking to reduce stress in your life, then you must give yourself time away from your phone every day.

Not being away from your phone means you’re never going to get centered and grounded. Being grounded and present in the moment is the ultimate goal. This is the thing that will bring you peace and pull you out of the obsessive-compulsive mode of thinking that greatly contributes to our rising stress levels as a society.

Daily grounding activities

Handicrafts

Maybe you love to knit or crochet. Why not start a small project that you can set as a goal and complete in a week? Get yourself in a knitting or crocheting groove. Finish your project, then start another. This could become your peaceful, centering activity that helps you de-stress each evening. Plus, your family will get to have more cozy things like hats, blankets, and hand-knitted socks.

Go swimming

Do you love to swim? If it’s summer, head to the lake. You can get in some laps while immersing yourself in nature. Swimming naturally regulates breathing and helps you improve your lung capacity and exercise the heart while toning the muscles. This is a great, stress-relieving activity.

Color, paint, or draw

You don’t have to get fancy, just a simple set of colored pencils or even some crayons or markers can be just the thing to ground you. Feeling yourself starting to obsess with the tech? Replace the urge to constantly check your phone or log into social media with a grounded, peaceful feeling that comes from engaging your mind and hands in something productive. Even if it’s just a simple coloring page, it counts as a stress-relieving activity!

Bake bread

Kneading dough is an incredibly grounding experience that also happens to result in some delicious fresh bread that can be enjoyed by you and your family.

Pottery

In the same way that punching, rolling, folding, and pressing dough into a round ball can be relaxing, so is clay making. It’s very satisfying and soothing to the nervous system to use your hands and make something out of clay. Even playing with Play-Doh with your children counts as a really relaxing and grounding activity that the whole family will benefit from.

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