Next time little stressors in life become too much to handle, try doing something good for someone else. My freshman year of college was a pretty hectic time in my life, not taking into account adjusting to college life and taking care of school work. Needless to say I was stress out. After a while, an opportunity came up to go to a local middle school to hang out with the kids after school. So I went without really thinking too much of it. I like kids and I wanted to get off campus. We helped a few kids with homework then played basketball before their parents came to pick them up for the day. Two of the boys took a liking to hanging out with me and got excited when I would go back. I certainly didn't making any kind of lasting impression upon their lives, but I learned a lot about them and they got to have a fun afternoon. Even after the first day, I felt a little better in general.
I think I can attribute this to thinking more about the kids I was with than about myself. In my previous post, I mentioned the ideas that there is more out there than whatever's stressing you out and things will improve. I say I experienced this my freshman year. I was so wrapped up in what was going wrong in my life and causing me stress, I forgot about possible solutions in everything else that was going on around me.
So the stress reliever I want to stress in post post is to think about other people and take a break from getting lost in your own thoughts. Of course it feels good to help others out, but doing so partially for the selfish reason of trying to shake your own stress can be okay, too. Keep in mind the amount of people that benefit from selflessness... it can include you!
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