how do you relax?

[Sarah Atkinson]

Ok so I was very stress out this morning getting my kids off to school. On my way to work I was thinking. Wow won't it be nice to sit and relax at my computer and work on some code.....

What was I thinking? I guess it just goes to prove people don't think clearly when they are stressed.

[steve40]

Lots of ways here

Gardening
Boating
Fishing
Dogs For Walk in the local woodlands
Watching the birds outside my office window ( feathered kind )
Cooking ( not fun all the time but nice to do something special )

Sometimes during the summer the ways of relaxing can be to tempting so I have to work harder at slogging away and remember work HAS TO BE DONE

steve

[Syzygy]

In recent months cycling through the woods - every now and again with an mp3 player for company - does the trick.

I love the freedom that cycling can give you, but finding a quiet and isolated spot and deliberately making time to listen to some favourite music is always a winner for me.

Just last week, when availing myself of the weatherly warmth, I made a point of stopping in a tranquil location and listened intently to a piece of jazz I love that lasts 19 minutes (if any one's even remotely interested it's John Coltrane's inspirational & magically waltzing "Ole"), and enjoyed every second of it.

The magic being (for me) that I actually had made the time to hear - and appreciate even more - every minute and every second of it...

Sometimes time well spent is the time devoted to yourself...

[webfoo]

I took a canoe trip this weekend. Very relaxing. Go somewhere!

[surrealillusions]

sit and relax? whats that? never heard of it ;)

[Dabrowski]

Every few weeks during the summer I go and stay in a place in Wales - no mobile phone signal, no internet or wifi, no wireless broadband coverage, no land line.

Just grass, the river, beer, music, and being Wales, sheep.

Perfect.

[weeks]

I go to the gym three or four days a week and try to kill myself. I'm like surrealillusions--I really do not know how to relax. Quite frankly, just chatting on this message board, shooting from the hip, about real-life stuff is relaxing.

I used to hang out and talk with close friends, but they moved away or we just took different paths. The emails are more infrequent--my fault as much as theirs. Family is 700 miles away; I visit about four or five times a year.

[ebound]

Exercise every day! Run, bike, workout, practice Yoga - They all help.

[venti]

Getting outdoors. Fortunately, I live minutes away from several beautiful mountain trails which are all empty during the week.

[vincevincevince]

A beer, a hot bath, and streaming radio from the BBC, all at once. Exercise makes me more alert so works well on breaks or before work, but is a disaster after work finishes for relaxing.

[surrealillusions]

i need to save up and take a holiday really..

i dont have any set time for relaxing, other than sleep

:)

[mslina2002]

Exercise. If I exercise and am walking on the threadmill, I get tons of creative ideas and it relaxes me. I also feel energized afterwards that I can't wait to get off the threadmill and go back to work! :D

[HelenDev]

Swim in the sea.

There's something magical about it and it makes me feel small and insignificant - which is a good cure for stressing about unimportant stuff.

I will swim in the freezing english waters even if the weather's not that great and everyone thinks I'm crazy :)

[LifeinAsia]

Bicycling. It's to the point now that when I *don't* bike, I get stressed and irritable.

Between other issues and shearing off a crank arm on Tuesday (hmmm, perhaps I've been biking a bit too hard lately?), I've only gotten in 20 miles this week. So I'm almost bouncing off the walls right now. And without my primary bike, tomorrow's planned 100-miler is going to be a no-go. So not a very happy camper right now... I'll probably do the 68-miler on my commuting bike- better than nothing.

[wyweb]

I go fishing. Sometimes I even catch fish.

[puremetal]

Dabrowski:
Every few weeks during the summer I go and stay in a place in Wales - no mobile phone signal, no internet or wifi, no wireless broadband coverage, no land line.

Just grass, the river, beer, music, and being Wales, sheep.

Perfect.

mmmmmm, sheep ;)

I really don't do anything interesting. It's watch TV and play videogames for me. Sometimes photography and doing personal graphic design projects, but I'm often too tired to bother...

[rocker]

I go to the gym everyday, working out helps me relieve stress.

However, when I want to relax, nothing beats heading out to the lake and fishing.

[grandpa]

Of late, gardening. I've somehow become the manager of a community garden (right place, right time), even though I know nothing about plants, plant care or gardening. I told the fellow I could learn.

Just watching my veggies grow is relaxing. It's not all fun and games however. The drug dealers conduct business on the sidewalk outside the fence. Just yesterday I discovered the two rose bushes had been trampled, and some begonias I planted in a patch of dirt had been uprooted. I'm not as stressed about that today.

Online AA meetings work for me too, even better than face to face meetings. The online's aren't as loud afterwards, either.

Camping is another stress reliever, even in woods with bears. Last week I was in Suches, GA for a week, camped alongside a gurgling creek. I watched the trout swim by, I watched the wind bow through trees, I walked a short walk on the Appalachian Trail, and meditated while gazing across green mountain tops. Very relaxing. And not a thought of a computer. Oh, and I never even saw a bear.

I can't believe I nearly forgot to mention my most prevalent form of relaxing - drumming. I guess I haven't done enough of that lately...

[BillyS]

I actually enjoy writing - go figure.

[leadegroot]

... so, are you guys going to look at me funny if I confess that coding is relaxing?
:looks around the room, worried:

[Habtom]

Whenever I want to relax, I shall come and read this thread. Very relaxing ;)

[Fortune Hunter]

tomorrow's planned 100-miler is going to be a no-go.

Asia, you did see the thread said relaxing right? :) Just kidding.

I do a little biking, working in garden, reading, and hiking.

[skibum]

Skiing in the winter, gym all year round, sleeping, biking pretty soon, windsurfing pretty soon - can't wait for that!

[lorax]

Hm... many ways I like but rarely do I get to enjoy them. A good book, my garden, hiking, running, mtn biking, walking, cooking, dinner over a glass of wine, great conversations by a fire and my favorite - a glass of single malt and my fiddle.

[dreamcatcher]

Hiking, walking, cooking, reading, listening to music, learning Cantonese and of course a beer.

dc

[Old_Honky]

I find sleeping is the best way to relax...

Second best way, my wife bought a chinese made machine, I think it's called something like a ching machine or chung machine anyway the name isn't important. You lay on the floor place your ankles on this machine and it "wobbles" your ankles from side to side resulting in a wave action throughout the body. It's supposed to be good for the circulation, but I find it great for de-stressing and if I set the timer for over 15 minutes I always feel so relaxed I am nearly asleep.

3rd best way, have a beer and watch other people exercising.

[edited by: Old_Honky at 11:12 am (utc) on May 30, 2008]