www.lifehack.org: You didn’t get to where you are in life without learning how to relieve stress along the way. But just because you’ve “been there, done that” doesn’t necessarily mean it is going to be easier this time around. Granted life experience will likely have taught you the old refrain, “this too shall pass” but that same life experience will also likely have taught you something about the active role you need to take to combat stress from time to time and how we could all stand to benefit from a stress-busting reboot.
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These Life Hack articles always make me laugh. It feels well-intentioned, but a lot of these suggestions seem like band-aid fixes for larger problems. I think what the article fails to mention is that these tips cannot just be one off fixes, you need to make systems out of them in order to see any long term change and benefits on your life and stress levels. For example, compartmentalization is fine for short term issues, but my god maybe you should see a therapist? Unfortunately, your life is your life and it's unfair to expect yourself to stop thinking about a home life problem whenever you step into the office- or log onto Zoom from your bedroom, which makes it even harder to compartmentalize when you don't have a physical change of space to knock yourself out of a bad thought loop. An organization reboot would also help, but you have to keep up with it too.
Articles like this always make me laugh. It should not be the norm that you are stressed all the time. Workplaces should promote 8-10 hours days and 5-6 day weeks (with that sixth day and any other overtime) – and if the employer is not promoting that, a union should negotiate for it. The nonstop work life expectation that theatre is unrealistic and unsustainable – hence theatre has considerable burnout. Additionally some of the suggestions given in this article do not seem realistic. Compartmentalizing can work to an extent, but it can lead to even more dress long term – and I speak from personal experience when I say that. Saying “Go Outside, It’s Like Therapy” is absurd. Yes going outside is wonderful, but it’s not therapy, and if you have problems that need or desire a professional, go see a professional. Being creative to relieve stress doesn’t necessarily work for someone whose career is also creative. However, I can guarantee animal love is a wonderful stress reliever.
I love reading the articles about relieving stress every time they appear on the NFRW blog. Most of them just give terrible advice and are simply amusing to read. I started reading this article with the same expectations, but, in reality, this article did bring up some pretty nice points. While I don’t think it’s always possible to just go on vacation every time you feel super stressed, some points brought up in the organization reboot made sense to me (which never happens when reading about organization. I related to the part that mentioned physical calendars being more effective in relation to digital Google calendars or reminder apps. I definitely work better with physical reminders as they are harder to run from making procrastination less of an issue. I also think that asking around to see how other people organize their workload is a great idea. All in all, I actually liked this article and will probably keep it around as a reminder. It did take me by surprise to fully admit that this is one of the very few articles about stress relief that actually might work.
Sometimes I wonder if hacks like these don't work or if I just don't let them work. Regardless, I've seen too many articles like these floating around to truly take them seriously. Obviously it isn't good to blame all my sources of stress for my inability to deal with it effectively, but when I have my own methods of de-stressing and compartmentalizing and I STILL am constantly under extreme pressure and suffering burnout, then it becomes a matter of this whole stress management thing being a strictly one-sided endeavor because somebody isn't willing to cut me some slack. In a pandemic. With my mental health going down the goddamn drain. And burning out like I've never burnt myself out before. Then it becomes someone else's problem, and that someone else is usually above me. Doing these news comments are a major source of tedium and stress for me, but what choice do I have between doing them and flunking?
Honestly some of the "hacks'' outlined within this article made sense to me. I personally think that mindfulness and meditation is a good habit as well as well as going outside. I like to do all of the things that they said to do, however after a while they start to feel like chores and more things that bring stress onto my plate. Compartmentalizing is probably the thing I struggle with the most as I genuinely try to do it however my brain seems to constantly be in multitasking mode or when I compartmentalize I forget about assignments for other classes and start turning in things late. Finding time to go outside seems like a great idea until I am sitting in class for long periods of time and genuinely can not go outside in an effort to finish my work in time. I definitely think the past few weeks have been giving me less stress as the school has cut back on assignments and given more grace. I also think stress is one of those things that you can convince yourself in and out of. Stress is something that you can convince yourself is there even if it is not or procrastinate enough to create it for yourself. That is why I think mindfulness is the best way to manage stress and probably the best way to convince yourself that you have less on your plate than you actually do. Personally I loved hack 5 because I just really want to go on a vacation.
Honestly, I needed to take a break after reading the first recommendation. The author tried to make compartmentalization sound beneficial but made it sound even worse. Blocking out emotional issues in favor of getting work done can’t be healthy, especially not in the example given in the article. Having an argument with a friend would’ve been a better example that more suited the solution posed. Not being able to take care of your dying parents isn’t something that can or should be blocked out. This author seems tone-deaf to me-- at least regarding where work should actually come first and where it shouldn’t. I agree with Bridget on the “my god maybe you should see a therapist?” part. People who are experiencing stress from work and lack of time really don’t have a lot of these options available to them. If you’re struggling with having time for everything, being able to workout everyday, get a pet, go on vacation, and spend more time sleeping aren’t really feasible. I think a lot of the problems we have with stress these days can only be solved where they stem from. There’s only so much we can do to make up for being stretched too thin.
I would not say I hated reading this article, but I do think that the majority of the information was not only helpful but a little counterproductive. I would like to argue that the points the writer made were unhelpful to the very least and harmful at their worst. People are not meant to be silly working robots with no life, no emotions, and no way of feeling tired by going outside for ten minutes. I also found some of them to be a little tone-deaf. The author mentioned looking to re-organize your organization method and one of the ways to do so by swapping digital to-do lists with physical ones. This may be helpful to some people, but not all. Moreover, team projects still happen primarily digitally because of the pandemic, so even suggesting this is just not helpful. Suggesting spending time with pets is nice sure, but not everyone has the resources or even the ability to do that. Think of nurses who barely see the light of day, how could they relax using this list?
Any article from this news source (news source is a strong word. Website? An online source that contains words strung together to create a sentence?) always engenders and eye roll from me. Even the author of this article is not actually cited with any real education that could back up these stupid Hallmark-greeting-card like sentiments that actually mean nothing beyond the paper. (or computer screen!) “Get outside— it’s like therapy”: I gotta say, that actually is not true. I mean, it can’t be! How can it be “like” therapy? Then why would there be a need for therapists if there is outdoors? The wording is poor, and while I might see where our other is going with this, it’s poorly communicated. Ah, shitty journalists.
These are genuinely my favorite articles to see on the blog because I like to guess what generic hack they think can actually change a person's life without addressing the larger issues. Once again I was not disappointed, well actually I guess I was because it was exactly what I expected. First the compartmentalizing thing, I genuinely didn’t understand. I mean I get that when you are at school you should be focusing on school and you shouldn’t let your personal life seep in, but that’s unrealistic. I wish that could be the case, but I haven’t found a way to do that especially when the line between school and life is extremely blurred. I wish the article would’ve at least offered some advice on how to do that instead of just saying you should. Also, things like take a vacation or a day off and just reorganize your life sound really nice but again very unrealistic.
I did not expect much going into an article about “relieving stress and restoring energy” by life back.org, and I was completely right in my assumption. This article is entirely laughable. Step two is especially ridiculous to me. “Get Outside, It’s Like Therapy”. No it’s not. Walking to the bus stop when it’s 48 degrees Fahrenheit and partly cloudy does not equate to sitting down with my counselor and talking through my issues. On top of that, I have never really been an academic. I am more of a creative person by nature, so all of these steps about organizing and compartmentalizing are not really my forte. Step four is legitimately “Engage Your Creative Brain” as if that is not just my brain all the time. Some of these tips are somewhat useful though, and albeit kind of obvious, I am sure that Meredith Flanagan (the author) means well.
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