Stress.

We all experience it once a while. To some, its a once in a while experience: getting ready for a job interview or a promotion exam, planning your wedding, etc. To others, it's a daily struggle.

Whatever your experience, the fact is that stress is one of life's constants: we all have to experience it sometimes. That's because life is like a lucky draw we play every morning: some days we get good luck, other days it's another story.

The differences between human beings is the factor that makes me believe that there's no single approach that can be used to relieve everyone's stress. In essence, I don't believe in "How to relieve Stress" posts.

That's why I'd rather say "How I relieve my stress". All my posts are based on my opinion and experiences, so I just believe that these practices might be able to help someone.

So how do I relieve Stress?

Physical stress is a hell of a job. The journey between my college and my family house should take at least 4-6 hours on a good day - great traffic, the bus doesn't break down, you know.

The problem is that only one in six journeys is a good day, meaning that I usually spend eight to ten hours on the road.

By the time I reach my destination, my butt and hips are killing me, I can't feel my legs, and I'm extremely tired.

For me, the next day after that journey is kept aside for relaxing activities - leisurely walks, eating, talking politics and football and visiting friends. Also, at least a few hours in a week are used for relaxing activities.

Without these days and periods of time where I recharge my batteries and rest my body, I might have well suffered muscle breakdown.

There have been times where I did not observe the one day rest 'ritual' after a long journey, and I suffered muscle pulls while in school.

Intellectual/Career/Work-related stress is another type that really puts people in a tight corner. As a student, I know the feeling all too well. Huge syllabus to cover with huge textbooks that look like they've been written in Genius, not English.

Bright idea to bring 6-8 Authors to write a book only one person will read.

Note that the book probably took months or even years to write, and is written by professors, but they expect a high school undergraduate to read it within 3-4 months and get a distinction.

You have so much workload, a sadistic, overbearing boss and toxic colleagues. It's as if the world is trying to take your sanity away from you. We all experience such moments.

Sometimes in school, when I'm going through a really horrible day - 3 essays to submit and I haven't even started one, back to back lectures for six hours etc - and I'm basically a ticking time bomb.

I try my best to go through the day with a fake smile plastered on my face, avoiding human contact as much as possible to avoid the risk of my stress being aggravated.

When I get home, I cover my face with my pillow and sink my teeth into it as I yell loudly for about 10 seconds. 😂🤝.

It might sound weird or insane, but trust me, try it and see if it helps. I know it does for me!

Also, a group effort helps. It doesn't have to be part of a huge social program. If you can gather your colleagues or friends, talk about how your day or week went, talk about the stressful activities of that day, and advice or counsel each other, that works just fine.

You can also confront that colleague calmly and nicely and tell them how you feel about their behavior. Keeping the anger and frustration in isn't doing anything to anyone but yourself. You're not doing yourself any good physically or psychologically.

Emotional Stress is tricky, and I don't think I have enough experience to handle it. There's only one thing I know works - Don't be afraid to leave: that friend, that relationship, that marriage, whatever it is.

We spend so much time thinking on what everyone else would say if we left, and what people would think of us, that we forget one person.

Ourselves.

Would you rather leave an abusive partner and be called names but still be alive, or stay in the relationship and continue being beaten, insulted and treated like a low-life?

No matter the situation, if you can't ask yourself the big questions and make the bold but right choices, you'll end up regretting.

And like I always say, the worst situation is one in which you regret an action, or a failure to act.

If you can't relate to any of my methods above, I'd like to hear how you handles stress. I'll be taking notes, because you never know what you can learn from others.