Deanna In fact, there is no one-size-fits-all standard answer. Finding something that can force you away from the source of stress for 15 minutes, without using your brain and without creating new burdens is already the most suitable way to relieve yourself. There is no need to force yourself to do the "standard answers" recommended by others such as exercise, mindfulness, and social interaction. On the contrary, it is easy to turn stress relief into a new KPI and increase internal friction.
When I was providing psychological assistance to employees of an Internet company, I met a girl who was doing big promotion operations. She stayed up for almost two weeks and kept track of the data. Her colleagues said that running would relieve stress. She set the alarm clock at 6 in the morning and forced herself to run three kilometers. Later, she changed to squatting by the flower bed downstairs of the company to feed stray cats for 15 minutes every afternoon while collecting water. She squatted there to watch the kittens and ate canned food without thinking about anything. Within two weeks, her overall state relaxed, and she was no longer so angry even when talking about products.
In fact, the current psychology community has always had different tendencies on the path to stress relief. One school advocates a problem-oriented approach and believes that withdrawal is only a temporary escape. Only by breaking down stress sources into small executable tasks and solving them one by one can stress be eliminated from the root.； The other school prefers to put emotions first, believing that people's cognitive bandwidth will be compressed to the limit under high pressure. If they insist on dealing with problems, they will easily make mistakes and fall into self-denial. It is more efficient to buffer emotions first and then return to the task. Both of these statements are actually correct. The core still depends on your current state. For example, your current brain is like having twenty mobile phones running in the background at the same time. It is so hot that it almost drops the frame. If you can still barely operate it, then of course it is no problem to just turn off the background one by one (dismantle the tasks). ； If you are so stuck that it takes a long time to respond even when typing text, don't force yourself into a new large-scale APP (such as forcing yourself to exercise, socialize, and make plans). Just lock the screen and leave it for 15 minutes, waiting for the temperature to drop.
I once had a visitor who was studying for a Ph.D. His supervisor always said that when he was under great pressure, he would communicate more with fellow students and review literature. He tried it twice but only became more anxious. Later, he found a way to watch the video of going to the sea for 20 minutes every day before going to bed. He just watched bloggers digging for razor clams and crabs on the tidal flats. He didn’t need to use his brain to guess what he would dig up next, and he didn’t need to record and write summaries. He said that this was the only time in the day when he didn’t need to control variables or predict the results. It was more effective than team building and coaching.
You really don’t need to worry about which method is “correct” or “efficient”. If you can completely forget about what you are doing for a few minutes when you try it, and you are not worrying about the past or worrying about the future, then this method is the best for you. After all, you have been under pressure for so long. You can't do anything about relieving it, but force yourself to meet other people's standards, right?
