For women: 20 Easy Ways to De-stress

Stress is just only the response of your negativity and fear. Keep both of them away and stress will never strike you. Stress can destroy much more than just our physical health. It robs our hope, belief and faith. We die every day, bulldozed by stress. My life is no different, and I meet stressed people everywhere. Gone are the days when we had few friends and relatives who were jolly good fellows- smiling, laughing, singing, dancing everywhere anytime. Those people had that capability of keeping all happy by staying happy. I could remember while writing this about one of my distant relative who used to bring fresh air and lively surrounding whenever he visited us. He used to bring chocolates or biscuits for us as we siblings were very young. He used to say jokes laughing out loud and then his sudden dance moves which were the peculiar most did us stumbled first and then burst out in laughter. The non-stop laughter which made our stomach ached by seeing him dancing is still unforgettable! One of my cousins had such a huge sense of humour that we just loved to talk to him always preventing him from going to his own house. We use to call aunt requesting her to stay overnight to enjoy the humour, the joy, the laughter. Now I don’t find those kinds of people around me. Life seems to become more complicated, the living standards are upgraded, there are money talking everywhere, people are forgetting the smile. There are more articles on stress management, there are special lectures, classes, activities to acknowledge people about stress and its management. Funny? or its the need of the hour?

My own experience says that we feel stressed most of the time to do our routine work. Whether it is the work at home or at the office we just can’t manage time always to finish work on time. The stress we get to reach office by crossing the traffic jams, the absence of a cordial atmosphere, the judgemental colleague, bosses, internal politics, crooked minds, opportunist subordinates, all together or a few of these (if you are lucky) make us stressed. The competitive attitude among all to excel in life cause a lot of stress. For women two things happen-A housewife will have to work all through her life to make others happy. A working woman has to balance the workplace and the home as well. The people surrounding a working woman are more curious about her workplace, her affairs, style and duties towards home. The life becomes miserable like hell as she has to have her family and boss happy. Staying in a nuclear family doesn’t help either. The nuclear family life needs an outside help to look after the home, kids and other things. In most of the cases getting a reliable support is difficult. Either the support is good but irregular or regular but not reliable. The worries of the household make a woman more stressed at her workplace. As a result, she can’t break the glass ceiling most of the time. The kids and their demands, their studies, the bills, the shopping, the meals, the plumbing works, paintings, cleanings, sewings, organising, maintaining hygienes, taking cares- does the list end? Please everyone, like everyone, socialise, always be on your toes-these worries are more than enough to cause stress for working women.

The expectations of the family members, the society and the world in the bigger way have gone up so high that we don’t have the jolly good fellows in our surrounding. Everyone is running to prove his or her worth.

Why can’t the world become less demanding? Why can’t people prefer simplicity? Why can’t we become more kind, polite, humble to keep the surrounding less stressful? Let us practice the following whenever possible:

• Dance once in a while
• keep the music system louder or listen to soft music
• watch the rainfall

• Grow flowers

• help the poor once in a week/ month
• make a child smile-sponsor if possible

• Create beauties: paint, draw, craft

• cook your favourite recipe
• visit a restaurant for a family dinner/lunch
• Knit a scarf/sweater
• Tell stories to your children-watch they grow

• Decorate your house

• visit a new place once in a year
• visit your close relatives-spent time together

• Go for fishing

• Be a mentor- guide the ignorant
• Get involved in community work- share ideas, execute them
• Get out of the cacophony, quiet your mind and sleep long hours
• Watch movies/comedy shows/ dance or music programs
• Go for morning walks, watch the sunrise– it will relieve all your stress, believe me!

The possible ways to destress are many. I have discussed only a few as I and my colleagues often get indulged in some artwork, fashion or cooking to destress ourselves. We celebrated ‘Navratri’ festival by wearing different coloured sarees for all nine days. We followed the colour code every day, gathered near our food canteen and clicked photos. It was such a fun! We got an opportunity to see many sarees, discussed saree designs, pieces of jewellery and we could create a positive vibe all around. The students were watching their teachers eagerly, shooting with cameras, helping us to take poses, all were just happy. We celebrate Mehendi days when the girls take part in competitions involving Mehendi designs and hairstyles. Some days we celebrate art by calling competitions on Nail art and the creations out of wastes. These two competitions are mind-blowing. The passion to create on a small nail by using many colours and tiny accessories are just amazing to follow. The competition of creating from wastes are thoughtful as the end products are always amazing.

A woman who is happy can not only make her man happy but she also contributes to spreading the positive vibes around her, she can make her family happy and subsequently her society happy.