How Do You Relax?
I've been struggling with properly relaxing on my time off. I constantly think of my work and my other projects on the weekend and when I come home from work. My current activities I do to try to unwind are: lift weights, yoga and reading.
I know that many of you have more strenuous jobs/hours than I do, so my question is what do you do to manage your stress and relax?
I focus on activities that require my full attention (preferably with no cell reception) eg. hiking, backpacking, cycling, mountain biking, ski touring, etc.
Funny, these were my favorite hobbies before starting in PE, and now the ones I have the toughest time with. I worry that I am going to get a call when I am out of service.
porn
Username checks out
Zwift indoor cycling
Backpacking, offroading, lucy in the sky with diamonds, beaching it, and passion projects.
Geez. Just picture yourself on the boat in the river.
Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see
I suppose you can just listen to the Beatles 8 days a week.
Bring in the lady friend for a fun time; crush q few brews; go hit the weights; walk around; and lastly but most importantly find time to spend with great friends
Get hammered
Drinks on the beach, drinks around a fire, trail running, hiking, kayaking, going to the river, tennis.
"I love a broad margin to my life. Sometimes, in a summer morning, having taken my accustomed bath, I sit in my sunny doorway from sunrise till noon, rapt in a revery, amidst the pines and hickories and sumachs, in undisturbed solitude and stillness, while the birds sing around or flitted noiseless through the house, until by the sun falling in at my west window, or the noise of some traveller's wagon on the distant highway, I was reminded of the lapse of time. I grew in those seasons like corn in the night, and they were far better than any work of the hands would have been. They were not time subtracted from my life, but so much over and above my usual allowance. I realized what the Orientals mean by contemplation and the forsaking of works. For the most part, I minded not how the hours went. The day advanced as if to light some work of mine; it was morning, and lo, now it is evening, and nothing memorable is accomplished. Instead of singing like the birds, I silently smiled at my incessant good fortune. As the sparrow had its trill, sitting on the hickory before my door, so had I my chuckle or suppressed warble which he might hear out of my nest. My days were not days of the week, bearing the stamp of any heathen deity, nor were they minced into hours and fretted by the ticking of a clock; for I lived like the Puri Indians, of whom it is said that "for yesterday, today, and tomorrow they have only one word, and they express the variety of meaning by pointing backward for yesterday forward for tomorrow, and overhead for the passing day." -Henry David Thoreau
Is this from Walden?
That Thoreau dude was on to something.
Exercise, cardio is zen. Lift heavy weight, where you are not sure you will be able to get the weight back up.. Guarantee your focus will be there. Alcohol and women and debauchery. No matter how much exercise, I HAVE to act like a deviant for a while to reset. Drinking, also xanax or valium.
Relaxing? More like Relapsing
Weed to chill. Exercise frequently to keep your sanity and edge
This Chimp Fucks
I play Red Dead Redemption 2 and pretend I’m hiking in real life.
Lifting is pretty important but pretty much have to get on the piss with the boys on a weekly basis to not feel drained.
Lifting 5x a week
Exercise, reading, podcasts, video games, food, booze, time with my significant other, time with friends, time with family, etc.
If you can’t unwind after work, you need some hobbies.
Agreed
A hobby is really an area of interest in which you learn and are productive. We have a cultural thing where we think zoning out is the best way to deal with work stress, but really you want to get in the flow state in an unrelated area, but one that you can draw parallels to work or whatever is stressing you out
https://hbr.org/2018/09/to-cope-with-stress-try-learning-something-new
Weed.
Love working in California.
- Wall Street Oasis
- Looking at excel models
- Networking
Jesus Christ the only thing you left off that horrendous list is jerking of to 10-Ks
It's 10-Q season
Why the MS?
Those are all work activities, this is about relaxing outside of work. Even Michael Burry played the drums.
Basically just lifting, running, jiu jitsu and hanging out with some friends. I think you just need to find some hobbies you enjoy a bit more than your current ones.
Jiu jitsu is useless without Unagi, a state of total awareness.
I think I had that in a sushi bar.
Lol you also become immediately better if you get a sleeve tattoo
ballocks: my ukemis have saved my drunk ass from cracking my head open quite a few times, 10/10
Usually go mountain biking for a couple of hours after work, playing tennis, hiking/walking my dog, camping, chilling at the beach, photography/editing pictures on lightroom, reading, playing guitar (need to do that more often), watching youtube channels. I find it odd that most people don't have hobbies outside of watching sports and getting drunk, there are literally endless amounts of things you can get into.
Working out plus hot tub. Hot tub is awesome for post-workout.
People always talk about sauna post-workout but hot-tub is basically Sauna 5.0
hot tub and beers under a star-filled or snowy sky is probably my favorite thing in life.
Meditation helps! I personally experienced a transformation by practicing meditation
check this course out, It helped me overcome a lot of challenges https://isha.sadhguru.org/in/en/inner-engineering-online/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=ieo&utm_term=brand-inner-engineering&utm_content=inner-engineering-online-class&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIpua484Pf6wIVzgorCh0Ligg6EAAYASAAEgJ3PvD_BwE
Running
how far you run bro?
5 miles every day
I'd say sports betting for me but that is usually the exact opposite of relaxation.
Newports and 40s. Cleaning my Glock19. Smoke filled strip clubs at 3am on a Tuesday. And watching old reruns of The Untouchables.
I like connecting with my friends, cooking some good food recipes, watching tv (jeopardy and wheel of fortune) and exercising. I have been trying to make a new food dish every week or other week or specifically work out on pullups or running the mile.
seriously...morning sex...and not with your hand...this is the best answer...always and forever.
Exercise. Golf. Socialize. Don't let your superiors push you around during these times. I promise you won't get fired (...probably won't).
Skateboarding. Been doing it my whole life and is probably my #1 activity that helps me forget about the world. Also helps that literally no one I meet while skateboarding is in finance.
Have been skating 2-3 days per week since quarantine began, forgot how fun it was
starting my own comp. bankings stupid af
love that
Hot Yoga, face-to-face socialization, alcohol, spending entire afternoons watching TV + ordering food from bed with the Fiance.
%%
Wtf does this mean?
Walkup early in the morning.
Meditation, Spend Quality time with friends and family.
Can't agree more
Less booze and caffeine has done a tremendous amount to allow me to "wind down" easier when I wanted to...not sure about your consumption habits.
If you have a lot of worried thoughts at night... if you have trouble falling asleep just generally (not necessarily always stress related-- serotonin converts to melatonin)... if you get headaches, jaw pain, neck pain, back pain... it may be your serotonin levels.
There are some OTC herbals to help, like Ashwagandha, St. John's Wort, and 5-HTP. Exercise also helps.
But there is also nothing wrong with going to your doctor and talking about your stress levels and asking if there are meds that can help. Heck, 20% of the country is on an SSRI for something. I expect that that number has gone even higher with coronavirus, and also in the finance industry in general.
I also recommend cutting out drinking if your job allows-- if you work in sales, that simply may not be possible (although with coronavirus, you may be able to quit temporarily and have all the stressors wash out when the bars reopen). Even 15-20 standard servings of alcohol per week has a noticeable effect on your levels of stress.
Look, I worked in sales and trading for three years. If a world without alcohol is difficult to comprehend, I was like that too. But when I got to three weeks without alcohol, my life was a lot better, and it was hard to comprehend going back to drinking.
Craig Beck offers a book and a course for this. The book is free if you watch his webinar, and you get a discount on the course, too. Read the book first, then come back and make a decision on the course.
Just throwing out a few ideas. If you work in finance and have issues with stress, just know that you're not alone.
Gambling, Juuling, jerking off
CBD Sparkling Water. Exercising. Cooking. Baking.
Train by day, Joe Rogan Podcast by Night. All day.
Meditate!
Exercise, reading, grabbing drinks with friends (pre-covid), video games (covid). Hiking (in winter is more fun), skiing. Also, not going to say I emphatically recommend this, but betting on the ponies is a very interesting if somewhat degenerate rabbit hole.
I wish I could un-read this.
Glass of wine, a great book, my doggo on the side and the cat on my lap.
That's how I cool things down if I manage to have time to do so.
1. Lifting intensely. I usually go late at night when my deliverables are done and I'm not worried about getting an email that pulls me out of the gym. Reason being that it's not relaxing or beneficial to me if there's a legitimate possibility of having to work when I'm lifting. If that's the case, my attention is split between the workout and my phone as opposed to being solely focused on the workout.
2. Some people have mentioned that smoking some weed after a long day helps. One could say that it's a necessity, that there's not another comparable way to forget your troubles, relieve physical and mental stress, and still be able to function at 100% the next day. I can't confirm or deny any of that.
3. Talking to people that you care about. Fortunately, no one that I actually care about is in banking or understands banking. Also fortunately, most people that I care about aren't boring, so I can have interesting conversations w/ ppl where I know that work isn't going to come up and the conversations are compelling enough that I'm typically not drifting off in my mind to think about work.
4. Gambling. This is a good way to get my undivided attention on something outside of work. If a dime of my own money is on the line, my attention is squarely on that dime, regardless of how much of someone else's money is on the line in something unrelated. Obviously, this is a slippery slope and I'm fortunate to be a good enough NLHE player that I can largely counter the losses that accumulate due to my degeneracy at the tables.
5. Sleep as much as your schedule allows.
6. Find time to whack off and/or have sex every day.
people on this forum have sex? fuck.
You're under the misguided assumption we are able to relax.
Modern family
Bump
Whiskey.
heavy bag work is great. set of wraps, maybe light pads, and a heavy bag - even if a water weighted kick box bag works well [does not take up much space]
do your regular run and lifts and then box rounds of 200 punches each with 1 min breaks [starting out maybe 3 rounds, and may need 2 min breaks] - don't be a slouch use good footwork. oh yeah your stress is gone after the punches.
Within a few weeks you will be up to 5 or more rounds at 200 to 300 punches per round. You will be calm as can be after that punching - nothing beats it.
Crossfit bro...
crossfit is one great way to uplift your mood
Smoke in a nice environment to relax and chill, play basketball when I want to be more active and train.
race motorcycles, shoot guns, sex.
lifting, bullshit Netflix before bed (takes mind off work), listening to music whilst cycling home from work (not sure why but its peaceful)... And last but not least, playing Chess (or similar) maybe it's just me, but I find that doing something non-work related that's mentally challenging can actually divert your thoughts from work and once you've escaped those thoughts momentarily it's a little easier to forget them for the night
I paint models... Buses - Boris Johnson
Cannabis. Just a small amount gets you a great night of sleep, with no hangover
I guess I really don't do any specific things after each work day. However, what I do like to do is take all (or most) of my PTO in large chunks so that I get away from the office. I use my time after work to part plans of my time off. For example, last December I took most of the month off and did a golfing trip where I played every day and did whatever I wanted (ate bad food, casino gambling at night, etc.). So I'll use my days after work to plan the courses I want to play or do other things for my trip. That keeps me motivated and focused and makes the trip feel like a big reward at the end.
Whatever you do, do it hard. If you hang out with your friends, shut off the phone / ignore it for the first hour or two. If you run, don't check your e-mail at crosswalks. If you lift, leave your phone in the locker. If you fucking love the West Wing, close out of outlook when you're watching it.
The biggest impact on my mental health was when I stopped trying to multi-task so much. Huge benefit. Actually, even when working, I have stopped multi-tasking and the benefits are enormous.
Very much this. Stop trying to accomplish a quick task while something loads... just take a couple breaths and roll your shoulders back.
Don't poop with your phone. Get a fun toilet book. I'm reading the Humans Of New York book on the john right now.
Just want to say thank-you to many of you for your comments. They were very helpful to me!
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