Journal #33 - Stress Relief

We all have our ways of dealing with stress. We have to. Stress is a naturally occurring force that has the ability to overcome all aspects of our poor poor lives. Because it affects all of us, we form ways of reducing our stress and connecting with ourselves in order to achieve optimum happiness. Such things vary depending on the person. Some people eat comfort foods from their childhood. Some watch television or play video games. Some people envelope themselves within the confines of a specific hobby that takes up obnoxious amounts of their lives. I, for one, have a very specific list of things that I do when I am overly stressed with things that usually derive from the pains of Junior year. Nonetheless, this list has never ceased to make me happy when I am down and so I will forever continue to use it. First of all, there is nothing better to ease my stress after a hard school day than a strawberry and banana smoothie with nilla wafers on the side - sorry to be so specific. It is literally the reason for any happiness that I have ever experienced in my life. Okay, that is a lie. However, I still seriously love that after school snack. It has the power to increase my happiness levels from 30% or 40% to 60%-80%, depending on how much sugar I add. In addition to this, I also like to spend a lot of my time playing video games and watching television, as I stated earlier. Though, I have noticed that I do not go to television as much as video games, unless there is something I seriously want to watch. A night of video games can bring my spirits up to 100% as long as I don't die or I make something seriously spectacular on Minecraft. Then, there's always taking a nap, but I don't always have time for that. At school, I frequently get stressed out of my mind. In order to fix that, at least before my last class in PACE, I draw. I draw everywhere. Mostly in my notebooks. Drawing is my way of expressing myself and being happy. It is an extreme stress reliever for me. In the end, many things can make me happy and help me connect with myself, and due to my constantly rising stress levels, I really need them.