How to relieve psychological stress

There is no universal standard answer to relieving psychological stress. Any method that can help you quickly recover from a stressful state without harming yourself or others is effective.

There have been related discussions in the academic circles in the past two years. One group believes that only "constructive" methods such as mindfulness, exercise, and deep talk can be called healthy stress relief. "Unproductive" behaviors such as slouching to watch meaningless short videos, eating a heavy hot pot with high oil and sugar, and squatting on the side of the road in a daze are essentially escaping stress, but will cause problems to accumulate. However, in recent years, more and more clinical cases have confirmed that, rather than whether the method is "positive enough", it is more important to be able to soften the overloaded emotions at the moment. I have met a girl who works as an Internet content operator. When she was under great pressure at the beginning, she insisted on following the fitness blogger to clock in for a morning run and the psychological blogger to do 15 minutes of mindfulness meditation. She was so tired after get off work that she couldn't open her eyes, and she had to force herself to complete the "stress relief KPI". As a result, The more I did, the more irritated I became, and I suffered from insomnia for less than half a month. Later, I simply let go. I took a detour from get off work and went to a night market near my home to squat for half an hour to watch the old man play chess. I just stood aside and watched without saying a word. Within two weeks, my sleep quality improved, and even the migraines I always had before were reduced a lot.

Of course, this does not mean that the positive adjustment methods recommended by the mainstream are useless. The core is to adapt to your current state. If your stress during this period is the anger that has been accumulated for more than half a month, and you always feel that there is a fire in your chest with nowhere to vent, then go to the court to play for two hours, or find an open place to roar for a few times, or even go to the stress relief center to crush two stacks of instant noodle bowls to let out the accumulated energy. The effect is indeed better than staying at home in a daze. ； But if you have just finished working on a big project for three consecutive days and your mind can no longer move, don't force yourself to "actively adjust". You can sit on the sofa and watch two episodes of a sweet pet drama that doesn't use your brain, and eat half a watermelon that is so cold that your teeth are sore. Even if you don't do anything serious, you are still relaxing your tense nerves. I once met a boy who was working in sales. He was anxious about performance pressure at the beginning, so he specially made a "stress adjustment list" for himself, requiring him to go to the gym three times a week, do mindfulness twice, and have an in-depth chat with a friend once. He only persisted for 10 days. Because he couldn't catch up with the gym time and couldn't find friends' schedules, he added a layer of anxiety about "not being able to complete the adjustment task." It was completely putting the cart before the horse.

In fact, psychological stress is like accidentally leaking half a bottle of water in the bag you carry to and from get off work. Some people are used to turning the bag upside down and shaking it twice to quickly pour the water out. Some people are used to taking out absorbent paper and slowly wiping the water stains in the gaps. No one has a smarter method. Just clear the water and prevent the contents of the bag from being soaked. There is really no need to follow other people's templates and set requirements for yourself.