Ok, raise of hands, who feels stressed? Whether today or anytime this week or even month? I bet some of you are saying you feel stressed everyday! Stress seems to be the common word of the day for how people are feeling. Yet, stress is known to be a major health hazard in our current society. Doctors are even finding that persistent, consistent, long-term stress can cause major diseases that lead to death.
Short version: stress = death. Fun.
I am one of those people that doesn’t deal with stress very well. Don’t get me wrong, when it came to school or getting a work project done, I could thrive doing all nighters and pushing myself to the limit, but it took a toll on my attitude, physical and mental health and especially my family. I didn’t like the person I became when I was stressed. So, I needed to find a way to handle stress better and become a healthier version of me all around.
One of the things I love doing is going outdoors and enjoying nature. It brings me joy, gives me peace, and improves my mental and physical health overall. I also love to run, so I decided to pair running with outdoors.
We used to have a trail behind our house where I would run. The trail went through a forest and along a lake. It was so peaceful and when the jasmine flowers bloomed in the spring it SMELLED wonderful!
This was the perfect medium. That is until February of 2020 when I herniated my lower back. That’s when my love of running came to an end as suggested by my concerned doctor.
As I was on a slow road to recovery, I needed to find another way to relieve my stress. That’s when I found online workouts and specifically kickboxing workouts. As a child I loved watching kung fu movies with my dad and secretly wanted to be a ninja. After my first workout I was hooked and eventually joined an online kickboxing community.
An amazing workout series that our community gets to enjoy is a heavy bag workout where the trainer goes through a workout on a heavy bag and it is one of my favorite workout series! After a long week of work, parenting and other things that stress me out I have specifically designated these workouts for Fridays. Hence the name “Heavy Bag Fridays”.
There is just something cathartic about putting on my quick wraps, boxing gloves, and punching and kicking a heavy bag. The heavy bag absorbs all of the stress, frustration, worry, irritation, and angst from the week. It is the perfect thing to take out all of my stress from the week on (instead of an actual human of course lol). It allows me to release all of that pent up energy and when I’m done I have literally left it all on the bag and am spent. I finish up emptied and with a smile on my face. I feel much lighter and l can walk away with all that weight off my shoulder.
It is the kick off for getting to enjoy the next two days to refresh myself and truly have a relaxing weekend before starting it all over again.
I get that may sound strange or surprising to you but you have to at least try it once! It is an amazing feeling afterwards and you will thank you me later!
So, what do YOU do to relieve stress? Do you workout like me? Do you go for a walk outside? Play a sport? Read? Watch something on tv? Listen to music? Go to your favorite place? Do a craft like crocheting or wreath making? Maybe art? Let me know in the comments below! I would love to hear about it!
Either way, if you need to find something to help you relieve stress, I highly suggest you do. Stress isn’t a good companion to have. Not sure what to do? Just try a couple things! You don’t have to get it right the first, third or even 10th time. You’ll figure it out eventually and be glad you did.