Got stress?

TroyD

Hopefully, this is not an inane topic...

What do you guys do to blow off steam?? I'm looking for ideas.

Ripping in to the occaisional moron seems to be an unacceptable sport

Usually, listening to my rig, a round of golf.....that usually does it. I dunno, lately my stress level has been on the high side and it just seems like I can't shake it and I'm looking for new ideas.

Now, don't get the wrong idea. I'm fine. I'm not going to go postal or anything like that....just looking to see what maybe others do.

BDT

treitz3

Frisbee disc golf. You might find it more challenging than golf. My other sport for relaxation? Beer.

ohskigod

Troy, your diet might be changed over there, you might need a vitamin supplement or something. dont laugh, if your body is short on something, it can f*ck with your head.

being stressed can really wear on you too, you been getting sick alot?

other than that, pound a heavy bag or something

TroyD

Here is the wierd thing, I'm probably healthier and in better shape that I've been in 20 years. I'm eating good, low fat, lotsa veggies and so forth. I'm running 3-4 miles a day 4 or 5 days a week. I'm off the blood pressure meds....

I just, man, I'm getting tempramental and forgetful (more than normal). I mean, obviously, I'd rather be someplace else but, that's nothing new either. Again, this isn't an Oprah moment and all that but I'm just not getting the kick out of life that I should be.

A couple of you, don't get all excited, there's nothing wrong at home so don't get crazy on me....

Hell, I dunno....a conjugal visit is probably the real answer. I honestly think it's, the more I think about it, just a full blown case of homesick, ya know?

BDT

candyliquor35m

1. stress management class
2. class on diversity

most companies offers these now for free

Fireman32

Troy man I hear ya, my stress level has been through the roof latley. As per the suggestion of Lou i started taking vitamins and then has helped a little bit. I went out and played golf the other day and then helped a little bit. Mabye ypou need to go somewhere and just scream at the top of your lungs it might help you feel better.

sucks2beme

This is normal. After about 3-4 months of a overseas tour, this always happens.
We watched guy after guy hit this same brick wall. I can't explain it. It just
happens. Most just went out on a wild drunken toot. Or tore
into one of those "morons". Or both. I don't remember much of mine.
It's easy to spot, so we normally made sure they made it back in one
piece. Just don't get a tatoo on your butt or anything that won't
fade away after a month or so(bruises).

TroyD

Nah, I mean, this isn't my first rodeo...and, yeah, I've seen it too. Just not with me....nah, no tattoos here.

BDT

carpenter

You've hit a painful spot.
I Can't do weed anymore as I have a grown up job now.
I Can't do hookers as my wife will cut my nuts off.
I Can't smoke cigarettes anymore as I want my daughter to have a healthy father.

What's left then?
other then the rig, movies etc...
I play my guitars every time I get a chance, and I take the occasional massage at the health club.
(needless to say by women only,
call me a caveman, but a massage by guy will achieve the opposite result in terms of stress )

phuz

Listen to music.

Put a few hundred (or thousand) rounds down range.

WHACK IT.

Write a livejournal post about it and vent like there's no tomorrow.

dkg999

Chill out with some good tunes.

A few boxes of ammo and a trip to the range usually works wonders.

Although probably not an option for you right now, last night I got on the motorcycle and took a ride going absolutely nowhere in particular, and it was most relaxing.

ajsankot

Have some beer!
Listen to some metal at extreme volumes with your beer with your buds
then go rip up the town a little bit

Maybe buy a muscle car and drive it hard

(some times bob marley and video games and beer works too)

bobman1235

Exerting myself always helps me. Not sure what kind of sports are available to you out there, but anything that requires me to focus on what I'm doing and to break a sweat really helps. Kinda obvious, I know.

brettw22

I was gonna say go for a bike ride, but i don't know if that's available to you over there. When I'm home long enough to go, I always like to find a trail and ride for a few hours with music through some phones........good way to just get out away from people and just do your own thing.

I want to go golfing, but I have this pinched nerve in my right shoulder that won't go away, so I'm going to try a normal massage sometime this week I think. I tried acupuncture last week and that didn't do anything, and the massage they gave there (some asian version of a massage) was more like some odd beating I was paying for.......lol.......

shack

Stress...I guess the stress of being in the financial services industry where financial stocks are trading at 25% of their value only months ago (and I have a fair amount of them), customers walking away from muliti-million commercial Real Estate projects, customers with investment portfolios dropping like rocks regardless of what they are invested in, customers losing jobs with 6 figure salaries, gas prices slashing revenues of even the best companies and consumers alike, bad checks, bad loans, scared customers...I guess all of this could be considered stressful. But this too shall pass. And life is too short to stress too much.

I just try to kick back and get engrossed in something I like to do...be it A/V, golf, photography and NEVER bring my work home. Work is for the office and home is for everything else.

Unlike Troy, I’m not away from my family (except for my kid in Africa), and I’m not living in an unfamiliar surroundings away from home, I'm not in the military where I could be sent to a conflict at a moments notice. I think that would truly be stressful.

woofiepaws

Take up kendo? Great martial art for people what are not built like Bruce Lee. Somebody must be doing it in Korea.

You get to wear armor and hit people with sticks!

SolidSqual

Lift weights. Listen to some good tunes. Take your best girl out. Take her back to your place. Eat Sushi. When not eating sushi . . . have mashed potatoes with every meal.

This is my formula for Zen-like peace.

steveinaz

You're missing your wife, man. Understandable.

Martial arts are a terrific stress reliever, not too mention extremely good for your body.

sucks2beme

SolidSqual wrote: »

Lift weights. Listen to some good tunes. Take your best girl out. Take her back to your place. Eat Sushi. When not eating sushi . . . have mashed potatoes with every meal.

This is my formula for Zen-like peace.

The girl is back in the USA. Troy is in the land of Samsung.
Therein lies the problem. Speaking of which, How is her arm
healing up after the dog incident?

SolidSqual

sucks2beme wrote: »

The girl is back in the USA. Troy is in the land of Samsung.
Therein lies the problem. Speaking of which, How is her arm
healing up after the dog incident?

I was just giving him ideas of what I do.

Troy, why don't you buy a second rig identical to yourz in Samsung land. Then, have some of your Polk buddies set it up in your best girl's place. Get a video phone and a large stuffed animal. You can pretend she is right there while you both listen to some tunes.

F1nut

Find the "Button" and push it.......hehe.

Norm Apter

Troy,

I've never been in the army, but I spent a solid 11-month block of time teaching English in China in 1995/96 without a return trip home or any other travel. I think there were about 8 other Americans that I had contact with during the year....and I didn't really get along with most of them. Thus, being cut off my from girlfriend (at the time), friends and family during this year made it the toughest period of my life. Since I didn't really take pleasure in hanging with the other expats and my language skills were not really good enough to hang extensively with the locals at the time, I really went into an intensely personal mode. Phone calls to the U.S. at that time were prohibitively expensive, so I spoke with folks back home once per month, if that. Beyond my teaching duties, I basically engaged in four activities which helped me get past the blues and the sense of loss I was feeling:

1) Like you, I ran every day. At first, it was just for a few miles in the evening. By spring, I was going out for a 6am run and then once again in the evenings. Running is not only a physical exercise, but a time of reflection for me and thus very cathartic. It got to the point that I was addicted to it for the outlet it provided. But if you're going to be addicted to something, this ain't a bad one.

2) I became a voracious reader. This was pre-Internet days, but I read nearly any English-language item I could get my hands on -- international editions of Time, Newsweek, novels and non-fiction that I checked out from the library. This opened up a whole other world for spells of time. There's so much info on the net that it boggles the mind. Thus I think that delving into hard copies of reading material helped me keep focused.

3) I wrote..and...wrote... and wrote. Again, this was pre-email days. So it was pencil on paper letters to my gf, family and friends. I just wrote about anything that I was experiencing or feeling, sending off 6-,8- or even 10-page letters in the mail either daily or every other day. There's something a little more satisfying about putting something down on paper than typing out an email.

4) I got into a hobby I had never tried before: drawing. I had about 3 or 4 longterm drawing projects going on for much of the year.

Now, I am not suggesting specifically that you should get into any one or the other of these in particular, but I found that the four together provided me with a needed physical, emotional and psychological outlet. I found that I needed a combination activities that satisfied each of these areas.

Good luck, man!

Norm

Jstas

Relieve stress? Punch some puppies in the face. Kick a dog or two. Steal candy from babies. Poison pigeons in the park. Lotsa stuff you can do to relieve stress!



Seriously though, fishing. Very relaxing and very rewarding. I was just out last Saturday for about 11 hours on the water. I fell asleep a couple of times, caught a tournament winning flounder plus the limit of sea bass. Came home and had an awesome dinner with broiled flounder and sea bass stuffed with blue crab meat and fresh Jersey corn on the cob! Stress was not there that day and I needed it! I got a great tan and actually felt rested! It gives you plenty of time to think about things that are bothering you and come to a realization or resolution. Helps get rid of all the worry associated with it. If you can get some time to work through your thoughts, you can put your mind at ease by resolving your conflicts to at the minimum, action items. Having a plan sorted out to deal with an issue can be very stress relieving.

As for blowing off steam, lotsa stuff. I usually get in my truck to burn up some dead dinosaurs and terrorize the streets for a little bit by just taking a drive and laying in to the go pedal. Lately though I found a nice batting cage and crushing some baseballs is very therapeutic and completely exhausting! I tried a driving range but they kept yelling at me to get my truck off the grass. Got lotsa little dents in it too. That's a drag. Then I just tried hitting golf balls like everyone else was and that was almost as good as a batting cage. Pissing people off on the Internet is always fun and sometimes profitable but that gets you in trouble. That's the stuff I do though.

krabby5

learn to play an instrument..

Ive been playing guitar for years and I dont think about anything else when I'm playing..

Face

Online gaming, something like Team Fortress 2, etc...

skipf

+1 on the fishing. It's impossible to stay stressed while kicking back on a river bank and drowning some worms.

BeRad

I am lucky in that I don't really get too stressed out. I do get furious sometimes (while playing competitive pool, or while working on a vehicle (fords usually)) but I have trained myself to just tense up for a quick second, drop a quick F-bomb, (throw a wrench if it's ridiculously bad) and then go back about it like it is a new day.

When I get to the point of thinking "I need a freakin' vacation" and I have vacation time to use up, I do it. Weather it be chillin' at the lake for a weekend, or a week in Cuba on the beach, simply enjoying the weather always presses a nice reset button in the brain.

Polkitup2

I'm not sure what your R&R opportunities are in Korea, but for me just getting away to somewhere different for a day or two works wonders.

george daniel

Probabally get into some form of mild/moderate exercise such as running/jogging,, then while "cooling off",,, a shot/brewski or two,, put some tunes on relax,,, sleep,, and do it again the next day. Thats all that I could come up with thats "legal" :)

obieone

Go to sick call, and repeat what you said here. Dunno if the Forces medics are like the Navy's, but the last command medic I had, had a motto of "better living thru chemisrty"
I'm not suggesting you go and get doped up, but there might be something he/she can give you.

madmax

Calm down man, its ok, just calm down. Don't do anything drastic. Just please calm down and slowly retire to your comfort area. The main point I'm making here is to please calm down before you react to any stimulus. Just chill...
madmax