www.inverse.com: Have you ever tried to relax, only to find yourself overwhelmed with feeling stressed and having negative thoughts? Turns out a lot of us experience this — which is why some have coined it “stresslaxing”.
Even though stresslaxation is a new term, it describes relaxation-induced anxiety which has been studied for years.
4 comments:
This article is very helpful to me. I have a very bad habit of putting things off for a long time because I am too afraid and stressed out to deal with them when I should so I let them snowball bigger and bigger until they are too big to stop without help or some sort of sacrifice. I often find myself in bed in the early hours of the morning after a long work night, staring up at the ceiling trying desperately to get to sleep while my anxieties and stressors worm their way through my mind. Therefore, the understanding that this article brings me is very comforting and will definitely help me better identify my problem and the best possible way to deal with it. I especially have a very liberal relationship with guilt, especially familial guilt so the section talking about how I could be worrying about other people’s opinions.
I find I “Stresslax” quite a bit and especially during the school week. It's kind of hard not to when you have dozens of assignments to complete and so little time to do it. This semester my days were especially jam-packed, but I made sure to always set aside at least an hour of time to go to the gym. Some would say this is a waste of time, but for me getting that time to exercise helps me immensely in de-stressing and getting out of my head about assignments. I also make sure at night that when I decide to have dinner, I’ll spend that time not doing work, but watching a good documentary or TV show. These two simple additions to my day have improved my work ethic dramatically, and while they do take time out of my day, I find that I am much more productive if I take these breaks to de-stress. Going to college has not been easy, and I must say it’s been a lot more work than I expected, but it's also been so rewarding at the end of the day that I can’t complain. Stress is a tough thing to get over, but it can be done and for me adding little things throughout my day has helped me so much mentally and physically.
I chose this article not only to provide information for myself if I ever come across such a situation, but also to be better equipped to advise those around me. This article defined the term “stress laxing” and identified the different scenarios that cause it and how to cope with them. One tip they provide that I use in my daily life is “remember why you’re trying to relax”. This is something I say to myself all the time as I know if I do not take a moment to relax, I won’t perform the way I want to the rest of the day and, more importantly, I won’t be promoting good health which is something very important to me. This article is applicable to the theatre industry because we are often over worked and therefore always stressed about either personal or work related issues. As a stage manager, something I take away from this article is that there are many ways to destress and a certain way may work for some and not others, but I am now able to notice the signs of “stresslaxing” and provide tips if need be.
I feel like everyone's gauge for stress is variable and while some people thrive, other people crash and finding that distinction right now is difficult. We all live in such a weird ass time where everyone loves to run themselves into the ground so they have something to complain about. I also think you have to consider that people prioritize things differently and what may be important to you and on top of your list to get done may be at the bottom for someone else. But even figuring out what should be done first is a struggle!! You can't stress out about anything if you don't acknowledge it and forget about your problems! Oh wait, this article is about relaxing but what does that even look like for people? Relaxing feels like it's for people who deserve it and if you haven't done anything, do you really deserve a break? (yes, yes you do.)
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