Without going into too much detail, I have to calm down, my blood pressure is high and soon I will have a 24 hour monitor fitted to see what is going on (could be a family problem as older sister is on medication for high bp). In the meantime I have undertaken other measures to bring it down.
I am not alone with this problem, I know that, there must be a lot of folk who are worrying and that worry is affecting their health, so I wondered how much of it may be down to the media hype coverage of the recent global financial problems. We now have 24/7 (hate that term) news broadcasts into our homes. It is on the television, the radio and online news pages. there seems to be no escape from it! There are, however, ways to deal with it and not get stressed.
We could just switch off the news, but I feel reluctant to do that as we do need, to some extent, to be kept informed. Instead I check in online and read through the headlines, then if I don't see a need to read further, I switch off and get on with other more relaxing things. Here, and not in any particular order, are my top 10 ways of calming down:-
1) Meditation/Hypno cd's - when my doctor takes my blood pressure he tells me to close my eyes and imagine I am on my favourite beach, I find it is always the one from my childhood holidays when we lived in Singapore, so waving palm trees, heat, bucket and spades and sand figure. It seems to help and to top up I have Paul Mackenna on cd
2) Music - Whatever is your favourite but it must be relaxing. My personal favourite is my Menorcan Caves Chill out music which Mr C dislikes lol! so I have to play that when he is out. Also love my Enya cds.
3) Go for a walk - with a dog in the family this is a must anyway but I do try to enjoy the experience. This time of year the leaves on the trees are changing colour and are beautiful. Plenty of leaves on the ground right now so if you are really fed up you could kick your way through a few. Be careful though that you aren't going to be disturbing hedgehogs etc. Shallow piles of leaves only. Breath deeply if the air is good and make the most of any sunshine for the vitamin D, yes I know highly unlikely in Britain lol!
4) Garden - If you have one, even 5 minutes a day out there makes you appreciate how wonderful nature is. Listen to the birds and realise life carries on just the same for them, recession or no recession. We could learn from them. Other than in church I feel so close to God in the garden.
5) Get in the Kitchen - Not as a chore, but as a valuable resource for producing healthy and tasty food. I have a chair in there and sit with a notepad and pen and cuppa and make my lists. I enjoy cooking, so the kitchen is a happy place for me, I feel by taking control in there, I am doing something positive about my health and finances.
6) Create something - knitting and sewing are valuable skills, will save you money and give you a real feel good factor when you look at your creation. I am not particularily talented at either but still enjoy doing both.
7) Clear some clutter - I am the worlds worse at throwing "stuff" out, possibly because I was brought up by a very resourceful Mum who started out her married life just at the end of WWII while rationing was with us. I do visit here for inspiration though. Whenever a bag leaves the house, either for the bin or a charity shop, I feel great!
8) Exercise gently - easy for some but not for everyone. Health issues can restrict what you do but it is important to try. My daughter bought me some pilates yoga balls to exercise my upper arms with and I can do this while sitting down. We also bought an exercise bike when it was reduced to half price and I use this sometimes, on the lowest setting though for now. Hopefully this will make up for giving up the gym membership. Maybe one day I will be fit enough to get the old push bike out!
9) Friends - Time spent with good friends who encourage you and share the good (and bad) times and laughter are so very good, possibly our best resource in these worrying times.
10) Taking control - of your finances, your health (as much as possible), your food, processing your own food leaves you less vulnerable, it means I can cut my intake of salt considerably, and it all adds up to less stress.
3 comments:
What a great list, Catz! Some really good ideas there.
Strangely enough, when I want to relax I don’t think of beaches and things but of food! I close my eyes and imagine all the wonderful meals that I could make in the future. I think that’s because imagining things I have done and places I have been just make me want to do them or be there again and that’s not always possible. Also, I’m a bit of a pig when it comes to food! Lol
I also love chill out music. My son discovered pan pipe music years ago when he was still a teenager (he’s 30) so we often used to relax and listen to that together. Can’t get into Enya myself but I love Enigma and your Menorcan Caves sounds fascinating.
My garden isn’t anything to look at but still I like to sit out there for 15 minutes whenever I can. You’re right about it being relaxing and the sun’s so good for us, especially at this time of the year when there’s little about. And do you know what I really love watching in the garden in autumn? Spiders weaving their webs! I have loads of garden spiders so there’s usually at least one busy at work. Unfortunately I walked through a spider’s web last time I sat out there. The poor thing was dashing about wondering what on earth had happened! All that work and then I come along and destroy it.
I’ll have to look into those pilates balls. I’ve been thinking of joining a pilates group but I’m not sure I’ll be able to make enough of the classes to make it worthwhile.
Hope you soon get your blood pressure under control. I’m the opposite - mine’s way too low. You just can’t win can you? LOL
Excellent list, thank you Catz. I'm finding the constant talk of recession and global downturn very stressful too (as I'm sure is everyone else.) I've lived through several other recessions and don't know why I'm finding this one particularly worrying - but I suspect the continual dissecting of it all on TV and radio is not helping.
Also particularly worrying is the fact that the company my partner works for has just made 25 per cent of its workforce redundant and although his job is safe for now who knows how long that will last - or how long the terrible uncertainty will continue. I'm just very grateful that if the worst comes to the worst we don't have any debt and we're used to leading a frugal lifestyle.
Great list. I've started praying and I can't believe how much it helps. I also find crafting, listening to the radio and walking!
p.s. I love that phrase!
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