Stress Busters

By The Editors

Sometimes the stress gets so bad you think your head will explode. Fifteen unanswered client emails, a judge who doesn’t know her elbow from her Volvo, a coffee stain the size of Texas on your new suit and a weekend full of kids’ basketball. And that’s the easy stuff. Oh, we know the feeling. So for this week’s Friday Five, we’ve found some terrific resources and ideas for things you can do to get some relief. Come on, relax and check them out.

1. How to keep going when you’re out of gas. If stress, fatigue, anger and worry are getting the best of you but your only option is to forge on, read Levi Davis’ recent article in Forbes. The tips on food, sleep and organization could be your lifeline.

2. Step away from the Oreo’s. While we’re on the subject of food, here’s a great list of 10 foods that help reduce stress. Relocating your get-up-and-go may be as simple as a few changes in diet. Mmmm, blueberries! Just thinking about them is relaxing.

3. Feed your head. Yeah, a week on the beach would be great. But if your pocketbook and calendar conspire against that, try taking a holiday from the mundane and learning something new. Refresh those tired brain cells by listening to a TED talk, or take a class at CreativeLive.

4. Dig deeper. Brene Brown calls herself a researcher-storyteller, and the direction her postgrad research took changed her life. Her recent Ted lecture, The Power of Vulnerability, suggests some profoundly different—and less stressful—ways of approaching the world. If you’re into organizing and controlling things, you’ll want to listen to this.

5. Tell them to shove it. If none of that helps, it might be time to get serious and read 8 Signs That It’s Time to Look for a New Job. Once you turn that corner nothing looks the same.

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