Escaping My Stress
by Janet Nolan
(Douglas, GA)
Thinking about childhood memories helps me deal with stress
As a caregiver and full time mom/grand mom and employee, stress creeps into my life on a regular basis. How do I deal with the stress? One trick I do for stress relief, to help myself now when these moments hit, is to time travel.
That's right, time travel. There was a time as a child that I threw caution to the wind and jumped from the hayloft window into a huge stack of loose hay. I gave no thought to what might happen if I missed the stack, or to what would happen to my backside after my dad yanked me out of it - I just jumped.
I kicked my feet out in front of myself and floated down into the haystack gentle as could be several minutes later. OK, maybe it only took a second and I probably landed with a thud. I do remember vividly how peaceful and how much fun it was. That is one of my favorite memories.
Now when I'm stressed I travel back to when I was a child, floating in the air landing gently in the haystack. I can also make that trip down last as long as I like. I have found this to be a useful stress relaxation technique.
