Tag: emotional wellness

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3 Ways to Stay Relaxed

Like every other day, I woke up early in the morning. I sat down and completed my 5-minute breath exercises. I had a hectic schedule for the day. After getting out of bed, one thing follows another, the next time I saw the clock, it was well past noon. I sighed. “I need a break,” I said to myself.

Have you ever felt the same? I am sure you have. Each one of us is in the pursuit of matching the speed of the ticking feet of time. But time seems to be ahead. Always. To acquire this imaginary horizon, we often forget that continuously working may harm us. 

Working without any break may stress you. Small amounts of stress adding up every day may lead to an unhealthy stressful lifestyle. 

The body and the mind need a break. Working continuously exhausts them. It is very important to take small leisurely breaks from work and relax. 

Below are some of my ideas of taking a break which you can try 

1. Eat your favourite food.

Food is an instant mood changer. Chocolate lovers won’t agree more, isn’t it? Drowsiness will run away from you as you pop in a candy. Try it if you need a mini-break and can’t go anywhere. But if you can get out somewhere, go to your favourite nearby food joint and order your favourite food. Eat slowly and savour and treat your taste buds. 

Listen to music. The next fastest mood changer is music. Create a playlist for every mood when you are free. Plugin your earphones and listen to one song or two when you feel like. Play music in your car while going back home. Tune into a music channel while you make or eat dinner instead of listening to worldly issues on the news channel. 

2. Escape into nature.

The winds, the sunsets and the rains have enormous relaxing powers .go to the nearby window and watch the view. Allow the slow winds to ease your nerves. If it’s raining, show your hands and face. Lets droplets cool you down. Watch the sunset if it’s the evening time. Watch it the whole. Try to make your mind blank and enjoy the void.

If you are at home, there are even better ways of relaxing

You could cook something easy and yummy. Make a cool refreshing drink and have it.

 You could take your favourite book off the shelf and read a few pages, or read your favourite poem. 

If it’s a weekend and chores for the day are complete. If You want to relax before you go out in the evening. Here are some ideas 

Watch an old movie. A three-hour nostalgic journey of feelings and some popcorn. Sounds amazing, right?

3. Get artsy

 Are you the type who was too good at painting at some time, but lost habit because of age and duties? You still have the paintbrushes and colours. Why wait then? Grab them and fill the canvas again with colours like you used to. Nothing can refresh you more than your older version. 

Go for it. Try one or all of my ideas and share them with your friends, and tell them to share with their friends, coz we all need a break from time to time, don’t we?

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A bad day or depression?

Does having a bad day means you are depressed?

Do not worry, most probably you are not.
  1. When should you start worrying about your mental health?
  2. How will you identify if your mental condition is normal or concerning?
  3. Is it okay to have a bad week?
  4. How are bad days differentiated from depression?

What is a bad day?

On some days you wake up with a slight headache. A morning stretching and yoga session doesn’t help much. You know your workload for the day will not end in that day, you don’t feel like doing anything. Nothing excites or amazes you. With a straight face, you complete every activity sluggishly.

Trust me, it is completely fine to have such a day. You will not have the same energy every day. It is perfectly normal to have a lazy day or a bad day. It is alright to have emotional stress or anxiety. Experiencing such days is important for your growth as a person.

What if I have a bad week?

The other day when I said my friend “having a bad day is normal“, she asked “nothing is working out for me for a week. “Seven days of complete hopelessness is bad. Seven more days are worse.

Clinically, one is in depression if they have had two weeks or more of complete hopelessness or mental agony.

What are the other signs of depression?

Depression can show different signs in different people. The main symptom is your thoughts. Clinical depression patients feel hopelessness, anxiety, and stress over trivial issues. In worse cases, suicidal thoughts follow next. The next important sign is a change in the sleep cycle. You may either feel too sleepy or completely insomniac. Another indication is variation in weight. Gain or loss of 5 percent or more weight within a month is considered a symptom of depression. A combination of these signs means you need to consult a doctor.

Why should one consult a doctor?

Most of us think that mental illness doesn’t need a doctor’s consultation. Even if it worries us, we don’t share it with anyone.

A step in the wrong direction at this cross point can lead to a destructive destination. It is important to take the right step. Anyone can have depression. Sometimes, people with a seemingly perfect life, also get trapped in this disorder. A specialist’s guidance can be a map of this maze.

Even if you are not suffering from depression and you know it, but you feel worried, go for a consultation, or talk about it. It will relieve you. When you need help, don’t shy away, ask for it.

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In search of peace

Often, in life, We try to reach a point where we don’t have to worry about anything, We set our goals accordingly, We work hard, overtime in the office, to earn the amount that we need for a vacation, We persuade our friends so that we fit into their plans for the weekend.

Why do we do so?

The answer to these queries is simple – to attain peace.

Going on that vacation will give you peace. You will be out of the regular routine life, away from the everyday chaos.

Hanging out with your friends, for those precious some hours, will take you away from the tensions that surround you always. You will be out of the clutches of your troublesome thoughts.

Have you ever wondered why you need to attain a specified condition, to attain peace? How would it be, if peace could come to you, unconditionally? Without a price tag, without any persuasion.

Life would become amazing, right? Well here’s how:

It’s just a matter of the mind. Peace is not a place. It is not a person either. It’s a feeling, like any other, like happiness and sorrow. This lies deep within you, undiscovered. So, like any other feeling, it will come to you when you need it. You don’t need to travel miles to find it, while it is right under your nose.

So the next time you feel like you need a break, you need not run away from your office desk or sofa room. You can stay right there and get what you want to be delivered at your steps. Remember, it’s all in the mind. So close your eyes, and say yourself “I am at peace. This also will pass away.” Relax your mind and discover how peace slowly creeps in. And when you are done with your quota, dive into your tasks with the energy peace leaves you with.

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What Is Stress?

The student comes home with a bag full of home assignments. The college-goer returns with a heavy heart. The businessman has ‘worry lines’ on his forehead. The housewife rushes throughout the day to prepare meals at the right time. In the hurried life of today, where time always seems to be walking two steps ahead of us, we are subjected to too many stresses.

What is stress?

It is a response. When our body is questioned physically or emotionally we answer through stress. Stress is good. It is a wave of energy. Stress is known to increase a person’s performance. During exam time tension to perform well keeps us motivated. A relationship becomes stronger when we make an extra effort. In all walks of life, a little worry does not
harm instead encourages us to do better But then what is this life full of care if, we have no time to stop and stare, as W.H Davies the famous poet has said. Lately, stress has become a bane more than a boon for us. It has opened ways to various problems.

Our body has three glands,

the pituitary in the brain and the adrenals that sit over the kidney, that monitor stress by releasing hormones. Hormones trigger different emotions for different amounts of stress. We feel challenged at first, anxious, and then fearful and insecure. When stress is increased our body starts ‘feeling’ sick without actually being sick. When stress is not controlled within these levels, our arteries start thickening and hardening and heart and kidneys get severely damaged. Diseases follow next.

However, there is a remarkable way of defeating stress. The cure lies within ourselves. In the words of the Roman emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius “Nowhere, either with more quiet or more freedom from trouble, does a man retire than into one’s soul. The cure to tension is relaxation. Whatever relaxes us, cures us of stress. Reading a
book, singing, dancing, a stroll in the park, a long ride, a movie, a game, a hobby, talking to your better half at the end of the day, or simply watching the sunset, our retreat can be in any form. All we should keep in mind is, whether we are disturbed or tranquil, depends on our response and not on any external stimuli. By making our thoughts cheerful and pleasant we can overcome any stress.