(no subject)

[aliseadae]

Many of you use Dreamwidth. I am sbrackett over there, if you care to subscribe. I don't update very often but perhaps I should figure out the crossposting functions. Who are you on Dreamwidth?

Because I'm curious, what do you do to relax? I bead, read, write (in journals, occasionally other things), go on runs, go on walks, work on non-beading projects. I know people who knit, cook, bake, etc, etc. What do you do to calm down, to de-stress, to feel more like yourself? I need time on my own to process things through writing in my paper journals and to relax myself. What are your routines?

Comments

[lex-of-green.livejournal.com]

I drink tea, read comic books, and pretend to kick people in the face. Oh, and when there are leaf piles I jump in them. I think the entire world would have far fewer issues with stress if everyone had their own permanent leaf pile.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I am Mrissa on dreamwidth. So confusing of me. (I don't use mine much, either.)

I am very bad at relaxing. Writing is no longer a relaxing thing for me, as it's my main work. Reading is a big one (but it's sometimes hard to keep my brain from going into work mode with books, even when I'm enjoying them), and I do bake as well. Today T and I went and got ice cream. That was relaxing.

[aliseadae]

There is relaxing writing and non-relaxing writing for me. Fiction and poetry writing is often relaxing but sometimes not. Journal writing is relaxing. School assignment writing is rarely relaxing.

[mlt23.livejournal.com]

Mostly, I read to relax. Doing my computer science homework and making a program that works can be really satisfying and relaxing, if it works. Browsing for books in a library. Running or biking. If I had to generalize, it would be stuff that I do by myself.

Writing can be amazing and wonderful and make my whole day better, but it's not really relaxing.

[aliseadae]

There are sorts of writing that are relaxing for me and other sorts that aren't. Journal writing is the most relaxing sort. School writing is the least. Mm, running too. And yes to things I do by myself.

[janni.livejournal.com]

I'm "janni" there, too, but almost never use it ...

I'm sort of a serial hobbyist when not writing. Currently, it's bookbinding, but that'll change. It always does. Reading too, of course.

[aliseadae]

Ooh! Bookbinding! I've made vague attempts to start up a book binding club here but people are less interested and I am more lazy. I bound books a lot when I was eight or so and I began to want to do it more often again last spring. Maybe I'll set aside time for bookbinding over winter break.

[janni.livejournal.com]

I'd never done it before, but then I did one at a conference ... and the person who taught us insisted we use the books we made, instead of saving them (I always want to save pretty books, because they're pretty!), and those two things together somehow got me hooked.

[ckd]

I'm "ckd" there (hugely surprising, I'm sure) but I haven't used it for anything but reading and commenting so far.

Backrubs are relaxing. (It doesn't normally matter whether I'm getting or giving because touch, in general, is a relaxer for me. When my shoulders have tensed up, though, getting is important since the muscle tension tends to feed on itself.) Unfortunately having opportunities available "on demand" isn't really practical, so I fall back on comfort re-reading, listening to music, and playing computer games.

[tiger-spot.livejournal.com]

I play the piano or go for a walk. Bike rides are good too, but I don't tend to think of them unless I have somewhere to go. Reading can help, but it takes a long time to actually calm me down; reading in a park works faster, but I'm not sure if that's because of the pleasant surroundings or because getting to the park takes a bit of exercise. Doing household chores helps for some kinds of stress, and I appear to need the occasional art project to keep on an even keel, though working on art doesn't de-stress me in the general case.

[aedifica]

I'm aedifica on Dreamwidth (surprise, surprise).

Reading is the thing I do most often for relaxation, but riding my bike is often relaxing too.

[zehlyi.livejournal.com]

I think writing is my main thing... the problem is that I get all my ideas when I'm really stressed out, and then don't have the time to actually write them down properly. Actually most of my de-stressing things are time-consuming, which is really unfortunate since I need them most when I have the least time. Then I end up reading webcomics or playing guitar and meanwhile I become more rushed and stressed instead of less.

[lerite.livejournal.com]

I daydream. Seriously. I lie in bed, close my eyes, and force myself to stop worrying about word choice or self-censoring. Mary-Sue insertion fic? Sure! Ridiculous gender roles? Sure! Totally improbable plot with huge holes but lots of dramatic poses and one-liners? Hells yes! It's how I recharge from having thought too much. I stop thinking and just imagine things. Sometimes it results in extra sleep, but that's relaxing if I do it right, too. Most stories I actually write have a core "wouldn't-it-be-cool-if" childish daydream that's done up pretty so other people can look at it.

[cloudscudding.livejournal.com]

Relax. Hmm. If you find out what I do to relax, would you let me know?

Seriously, though, it's hard to say. I read the internets. I grab a book and dive headlong into it. Writing can be relaxing, but that is not to be counted on; most of the time it's work, if work that makes me feel better afterward.

I watch TV shows and fold laundry. See--even when I'm relaxing I'm busy!

If this setting achievable goals and then stopping thing I'm trying works, I expect I'll actually have relaxing time. Wonder what I'll do?

[faeriemaiden.livejournal.com]

I'm ontologie on Dreamwidth, though I rarely log on. I'd like to figure out how to automatically update it every time I post an entry on LJ, though, because it's excellent to have a backup. (And it's backed up all of my comments, too!)

I'm still working on the relaxation thing. :/ Frequently I read. If I'm really, really tense, I take a walk or exercise. And by exercise I mean do several stomach crunches until my heart is beating normally again; I'm not really huge on exercising for fun, but it definitely helps with hormones gone awry. :P I tend to watch a lot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Sometimes I play guitar, or bake. Very occasionally I clean, but I have to be Very Desperate.

I think it also depends on what sort of stress I'm dealing with -- until fairly recently, I had to spend a lot of time working to get back into me-space after social encounters or work, but it's gotten so much better over the last year that it takes a really trying experience to jar me out of me-space. Then, I'd shut myself in my room, or take a walk, and read, and listen to music. If I'm really upset about something, I usually need to do something that involves more of my body, so that I'm less likely to be distracted.

I often can't write when I'm really upset, especially if it's an icky kind of upset, like chemical stress and depression or out-of-me-space stress, because then the... feeling, the... flavour of that leaks into my writing, and it stays there. :/