I've borrowed this from simplechoiceliving blogspot and then added a couple of my own..
Stress CPU Cycles They say stress can kill. It also robs joy and peace out of life. While stress is normally a healthy blend of emotions that are necessary at times, unchecked stress can lead one to despair, depression and a mediocrity. It can steal your will.
How is your stress level? Is your mental CPU maxing out at 100%? Here are some tips to get rid of stress, short term and long term.
1. Get out of debt – when I say debt, I’m talking about debt which is used to fund consumption rather than investment. $3.50 cups of Star bucks/Beaners coffee, the latest IPod, or other junk that serves to nickel and dime you to credit card oblivion. How much debt do you have? How often is your debt in the back of your mind? Is that debt forcing you to maintain a job/geographic location/lifestyle that you would otherwise not tolerate?
The point is, you can make your own coffee, you can get a cheap portable CD player, and you can get yourself out of debt (if you are in it) so as to start living the type of life that you are in control of. Not Bank of America. Article: Beyond Debt Reduction from Motley Fool.
2. Get out of town – Take a break. That means literally getting out of the house and away from your responsibilities. Tell everybody that you are leaving for a week and won’t be available at all. Leave your cell phone at home. Don’t check your email. Period. Of course, don’t go into debt by getting out of town (see point above).
You can’t stay at home and have the same effect. The phone will ring. You might not answer it, but you just know that someone left a message. You’re computer is staring at you, saying “check me!!”. Next thing you know you have spent three hours scanning Stumbleupon or something even more useless, and stressed out because you want to check out but are still completely hooked up to the machine.
If you were in a burning building, the first thing you would do is get out, away from the toxic gases that impair your judgment. Then outside you can consider the problem objectively. It’s the same for us in life. Sometimes we have to get away – not to escape, but to be able to think about things one at a time with no distraction. That way you can go back and handle the issue with a fresh start.
Sometimes you have to let go for a little bit. Remember, the universe will get along just fine without you.
3. Get off the couch – Move and your body will respond with kindness. You’ll feel better. You’ll also look better. It also creates a biochemical reaction that reduces depressive symptoms and creates feelings of elation. Moving, stretching, breathing heavy are things that strengthen the body to withstand anxiety
Start a little at a time. Don’t go overboard. Try it at home for 15 minutes at a time. You’ll start seeing a difference quickly. But keep doing it. It’s cheaper than prescription medications, and the side effects are fantastic. Article: Positive Steps to Work Out Your Worries
4. Get off the ‘net – After you read this article, that is. Understand that the Internet is not life nor does it make a good Second Life. It’s a part of life, but it needs to be in its place. This point is for those who spend large amounts of time on the Internet, especially those whose Internet usage is on as well as off the job.
If you spend a lot of time on the Internet, remember this fact that is already in your subconscious: your life is limited. If your surfing habit does not change, imagine how you would feel looking back on life and seeing all the wasted time in things that mean nothing. The same holds true for video games, especially MMORPGs. Remember, all the loot you get, all the levels you attain, all the quests you complete and kobolds you slay, mean nothing when you log off. However, there is one thing that will change: you will be older than when you started.
Download a time keeping programs and set a specific time that you will spend surfing/playing/IMing. That way you are deliberate with your time rather than allowing it to slide through your day. Here are two free/open source time keeping programs:
Time Keeper
Tea Timer
5. Finish unfinished business – Are you upset with someone or are they upset with you? Do you have a card that has to go in the mail? Do you need to change your car’s oil? What about that customer you have to call back? What about that problem you need to tell your spouse? I don’t want to freak you out – but unfinished business is like a background computer process, wasting CPU cycles and basically slowing everything else down.
Leave the job unfinished and it will lay around somewhere in your consciousness. Finish the job and it leaves your mind.
6. Clarify your priorities – Sometimes in the rush of life we get caught up in things that we don’t really believe in. It’s easy to get stuck in such a situation. But it’s also imperative to regularly ask yourself if the life that you is leading really coincides with the long term values that you hold.
I saw an old man in the last months of his life grappling with the regret that he wasted his years on things that mattered little in the end result. Money being one of them. It was a very eduational experience for me, and taught me the value of not postponing my values until retirement, but to live by them now.
7. Say noooooooooooooo – Some responsibilities are healthy and necessary. But there are responsibilities that you have no business taking on.
Sometimes others superimpose their problems upon us to give their misery some company. And while we need friends to lean onto, there are friends who treat others as landfills to dump problems and issues and do little to face up to their own life. Friendship is about giving and taking, not one or the other alone. We all must give – but we also must take. If someone else does not understand or is incapable of being a friend in that manner, it might be healthy to seek friendships that will be mutually upbuilding. Otherwise, we might end up living our life for someone else.
The same principle has an effect in our workplace or other situations in life. The key is to know our limits and modestly work within them, not feeling guilty about the limits that we have. Accepting our limits will do wonders to reduce stress and anxiety.
8. Get courageous – It’s easy to complain of our lot in life. It’s harder to change our life. But it’s not impossible. You just need to have a little courage. It requires abandoning the beliefs that make you feel unworthy or give you a fear of failing (or succeeding).
9. Touch & Hug - Connection with another human being is stress reduction at it's best. Hug, Hold a hand, kiss someone, pay someone a compliment. It will make someone else feel better and most definitely yourself.
Courage is energizing. Courage makes you feel alive. Courage makes you grow, makes you laugh and puts a smile on your face. Courage makes you hold your head up and look people straight in the eye. Of all the tips in this article, courage is the fuel that will get you to where you want to go.
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