Some Ways To Slow Down In Times Of Stress
Someone asked me a while ago what practices I had to help me slow down in times of stress. And in truth, at the time I didn’t really have an answer. I’ve never particularly struggled with debilitating stress, and when I do go through stressful periods I’m pretty good at channeling it into productivity. But then I realised, that is how I manage my stress, and that in turn helps me to slow down a little.Over the last week or so, where I’ve been juggling more than usual and my camera is on the blink, I’ve been feeling more stressed and anxious than usual. But this week, perhaps with this post in mind, I paid more attention to what I was doing to move through and out of the stress more quickly. I’m a problem solver and don’t like to dwell, so I have, subconsciously, developed some strategies that push me through the stressed phase, and I thought I’d share them with you here.
Step one – I need to feel small
This may sound strange, but when you’re wrapped in the whirlwind of a stressful period you become very introspective and begin to feel like the world revolves around you a little bit. I find odd comfort in remembering that I am a tiny grain of sand in the entirety of the universe, that I am a part of something bigger and that the problem I’m stressing about is relatively insignificant and ultimately solvable.Gaining perspective and reconnecting myself to this spinning planet is grounding. It’s as if the stress lifts us up and has us hovering above and away from the earth, disconnected from everything but our own untrustworthy mind. Once you are back to remembering you are just a piece of something larger, it becomes easier to see your problem objectively, as something that will be solved within the march of time and relinquish its power over you.
Two of my favourite ways to reconnect to the world are:
Getting Out Into Nature
I know, boring. I roll my eyes at advice like this too. But now that I’m responsible for walking the dog every morning, I’ve noticed what a difference it’s made to my perspective. To feel the sun or the wind or the rain on your exposed skin, is to be immediately reminded of your place in the grand scheme of things.One of my favourite things to do is to stand in the river as deep as my wellies will take me. As I stand I begin to feel the icy coolness permeate through the rubber and fleece lining onto my bare skin, while the current and weight of the water compresses the boots against my skin. It is such a subtle but strong way of reconnecting myself to nature, to the planet, to feel its strength acting upon me in this way. Sometimes I stand there and close my eyes and just focus on the sensations and feel instantly calmer.
Visit Somewhere Old
I wrote about the Comfort of Ruins many moons ago, around an election that made it feel like the world was going to end. Maybe it’s the historian in me, but visiting an old building or ruin really helps to ground me in my place in history and the movement of time.In particular I feel it in pre-Reformation churches, perhaps because religious history was always my subject. Sitting in a pew in a medieval church, imagining all the national and international catastrophes its seen, looking for the scars it bears still from its transition from Catholic to Protestant, is oddly comforting. This sleepy old giant has lived through war and plunder and famine and still stands, 800 years on, and will no doubt continue to stand for hundreds more – if that doesn’t make you feel comfortably small then nothing will.
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These are the things I do as a general life practice – but what about when you’re sat at your desk, still in that whirlwind and you can’t get outside? Here are the things I do in those situations to slow down:
Remember to breathe
I’m not talking about yogic breathing here, or downloading a meditation app (I’m meditation-curious but haven’t quite got around to it yet…). I mean literally, remember to breathe. I’ve found myself, when busy working, forgetting to breathe properly and going for days taking only little shallow breaths. That moment when you take a deep breath, feel your chest heave and imagine your lungs inflate is an infinitely calming one. It’s elating and for a few moments you get a little drunk on the oxygen, ‘oh my god breathing is SO GOOD’. Breathe for the feeling you want not the feeling you have.
“It will just have to be done”
This was the little mantra I used to tell myself at university when I felt deadlines getting on top of me; I guess its similar to ‘this too shall pass’, only it gives you more agency. It recognises that this feeling of overwhelm is just a moment in time, that at the other side of the deadline there is the rest of life. But it also puts it into your power – it has to be done one way or another, it may take a few late nights but you and only you have the power to do it. It has always got me through and kept me motivated.
Remember why you’re doing this in the first place
The stress is disconnecting you from reality, so counteract it with some reality that’s joyful. Reconnect with your motivator, the reason you’re putting yourself through all of this. Go and hug your kid, read some your book, take out your knitting needles. For me, I wanted to work for myself because I wanted freedom, to not be in an office between 9 and 5 for everyday of my life – so I’ll quite often have a shower in the middle of the day just because I can, and remember that’s why I’m here.
