9 quick ways to de-stress
I have ten minutes to type this piece. While I write, there are always three people passing by who ask a question. Often a short one, but they immediately take me out of my concentration. In ten minutes, I need to be in the car to watch a presentation of my middle daughter. In the meantime, the site needs to be filled with the nicest pieces, wants I want to give personal briefs to all our important relationships in Paris (because that's where Liesbeth is going tomorrow), I still need to choose a dress for our Look of the Year Award ceremony next week (you read that right, next week) Friday, and I have been asked to be on the jury of a prestigious beauty event. Saturday.
Breathe in, breathe out. Therefore, for all the stressed among us, but in this case especially for myself, here are 9 ways to de-stress. But do it a bit quickly because we all of course have no time.
I know, you actually have no time to write such a list (because in that time you could have done another task) but it really helps. And there is little more satisfying than putting a checked-off box on such a list.
Write in your out of office that you are in many meetings / abroad or, also always a good one, have limited access to your email which means your response may take a while. Mention who the person can contact for specific matters so that things don’t pile up. We tend to get bombarded with emails from overzealous PR people asking three times if we received a press release and if we are doing anything with it. In my case, it would also be a great idea to put in my out of office that if I like the press release / research / discovery / invention / launch for Amayzine, I will contact them myself. Don’t call us, at least not for now.
You can also ask me why. When you peel an orange, you can do nothing else but that. Not checking Facebook or texting, just you and that orange. The scent of citrus puts you in a calmer state, scientifically proven.
Have you of course have no time for and she certainly doesn’t but tonight you will cancel the ballet class and meditation course and gather around the kitchen table. First with carrots and tea, then with sausage and wine. At least, that’s how it usually goes for me.
Worrying about that friend who only meets up when it suits her, your sister who suddenly seems like a different person now that she has a boyfriend (and not exactly a nicer person) and that annoying colleague who always gets all the compliments for work you did. All that costs you energy and creates stress. The solution? Forgive them. Not because they deserve it but because then you are free from it.
No one has ever gotten worse from that. Well, you understand what I mean. Sex, orgasms, all great for throwing stress out the window. Quick (at least, it can be quick) and also free.
You can easily do that now that you have that out of office on. Do you want to be able to be called by your intimates? Then press the moon icon on your iPhone. Then everyone is barred except the people you have in your favorites. Handy, right?
I do that all day. Everywhere. Even when I don’t have time to calmly respond to emails. There has also been scientific research on this, and people like me who check their email all the time have an increased and restless heart rate. In the past (in the past, yes in the past) we could also live without email.
According to the people from the Huffington Post, that is a great remedy against any stress. I don’t know if my colleagues think that’s a very good idea because I am, very embarrassingly, hard to get off that stage when I have the karaoke mic in my hands. Schadenfreude is probably also a great anti-stress aphrodisiac.
