How to Relax

My second how-to! Anyways, I am almost always relaxed, and I will share some secrets of staying relaxed and calm, since so many people seem to be stressed.

*Breathe deeply. You'd be surprised how much of a change this can make. If you get used to breathing deeply, you are relaxed more easily.

*Be more optimistic. Don't be unrealistically optimistic, just don't be so morbid. Even if you don't show much emotion, at least have good emotions, even if you don't show them. I don't, but I am actually in a good mood most of the time. Remember, if things seem bad now, just think of all the ways it could be worse and be glad those didn't happen.

*Listen to music. Whether it's rap, country, metal, classical, or rock, enjoy music. Listen to music while on a bus, or walking down the street (keep it turned down enough you can still tell what's going on around you if you choose to listen to music as you walk). Even just read a book or surf the web while listening to your favorite tunes.

*Be spiritually sure. Don't say you believe a religion you don't. Try to find out what you really believe, what your core beliefs about life are. It doesn't have to stay the same for your whole life, just make sure you have your own solid opinion on faith.

*If you are in school, when a test is coming up think about what will help you. If you work well under pressure, feel free to freak out a bit, just try not to have a mental breakdown. If you study best and memorize the most when you have a rapidly approaching deadline, procrastinate. If you feel like you are going to fail if you don't study daily up until the test, then study daily at least to give yourself some peace of mind. I, for instance, remember classes well, but if I get nervous I don't do as well, so I try to forget that there even will be a test, that way I'm calm all the way up until the test. I don't normally need to study much, maybe look the material over the night before, or spend a few days quizzing myself until I get it all correct if it's a hard test.

*Don't drink coffee. A little to wake you up is ok, but although things like Mountain Dew are loaded with sugar, they have less caffiene. Caffiene can make you more anxious or nervous. I guess what I mean to say is that it's not exactly good for calming the nerves. At all. And it never will be. Ever. EVER. Get it through your head: too much caffiene will make you more nervous. It may help you wake up in the morning, but that doesn't mean you have to be sipping coffee all day. If you didn't get enough sleep, drink something like Mountain Dew that doesn't have as much caffiene so that you don't get high off coffee (caffiene is actually a drug).

*Don't worry about what's not worth worrying about. That upcoming inspection? Yes, you should probably worry a bit. Global warming? It's inevitable, and it's happening slower than the media implies. Although we should change our habits to slow global warming (which is a natural process the earth goes through in cycles, and just happens to be speeding up because of greenhouse gas emmisions) it's not as if the earth is going to turn into an oven overnight and we're all going to wake up frying our guts out tomorrow morning.

Well, not as much of a how-to as I expected, but it turned out OK. This is how I stay calm most of the time, so I pretty much just wrote it down. Feel free to copy these to pretty much anywhere if you really want to(wear these relaxation tips on a t-shirt for all I care), and when it comes to giving me credit I don't particularly care if something like this is never traced to me as the origin. Usually I'd never give permissions like that, but these tips are useful to me, and if they help you and you love them so much you want to share them with the world, give me credit if you want but it doesn't really matter either way. This is just my humble little blog. When it comes to my artwork, that is my property and please do not copy it, but when it comes to little how-tos anyone can reproduce them anywhere without even giving credit. Hey, with the iPod one it might be good if that's never traced back to me. It should be legal, but Apple's copyright stuff is kind of strange in my opinion. I mean, what if your computer and all your CDs are destroyed and you want the music from the CDs back?

Peace out!