This school year I have been very busy with classes, an internship, and a new puppy. With all of these responsibilities, it has been hard to find time for myself and a way to release all of my stress. My solution to finding time for myself and relieve stress is to take a nice walk.
In the past I would destress and take time for myself by going to the gym; however, this year, I can’t help feeling that there are not enough hours in the day for me to do everything that I want and need to. Going to the gym has been pushed to the back burner.
As I previously mentioned, I have a new puppy, and he has a lot of energy. As he needs to use his energy somewhere, I have to take him on walks; this is great, as while I relax on our walks, I take an item off my to-do list.
After going on these walks for a while, I found that they forced me to put everything else down and live in the moment. I am now forced to take half an hour a day to let everything go and just enjoy the world around me. I now know that this is not a time that I will be accomplishing something, but when I made that realization, it helped me learn to use this down time to my benefit.
This does not have to be the same thing for everyone, and walking might not be the same de-stressor for you as it is for me; however, I challenge everyone to find something that is possibly part of their existing responsibilities and find a way to spin it into something valuable to yourself. This activity may be listening to music while you are walking to class or doing a face mask while doing homework. You can take a small thing you enjoy and add it to a potentially stressful task and find yourself relaxed.