how to stay calm
hey everyone, so I know everything is really stressful but lets find ways to keep calm.
feel free to share some tips that work with you and try someone else's tips when you feel stressed.
here is some tips that I use to help me when I get stressed.
- writing everything down on a piece of paper and when I'm finished I get to cross everything of my list and chuck it away makes me feel so much better.
- watching videos that make me laugh or my favourtie movie
- cooking
- cleaning
- deep breathing breath in make sure your stomach is getting bigger and then blow it all back out. remember smell the flowers, blow out the candle.
let me know guys how you go
Comments
Awesome Post 
My self care kit looks like this
- LISTS! I absolutely love and need a daily list to get me going! Usually writing the quickest and easiest tasks first so that I know that no matter what, I will accomplish something today e.g. washing, walking, making my bed etc.
- Walking - once a day I like to go for a long walk, listening to a podcast or just taking in nature.
- Deep breaths - On the apple watch/phone there is an app called Breathe, that I downloaded to take 1 minute of deep breaths every hour
- Face/hair care - starting and ending my day with a facial cleanse, and giving my hair a good brush through makes me so happy
Big big big LOVE to this thread. I tend to overthink and it just goes wild from there. Saw some people's responses and mine are so similar haha
1. Drink TONS of water throughout the day. If i don't i tend to be dizzy/have headaches and i'm more vulnerable to feeling stressed
2. Getting enough sleep/sleeping earlier
3. Reading a book to slow the pacing
4. Yoga and meditate (works wonders)
5. Talk to my partner :3
6. Walk/play with my dogs ❤️
Love this thread!
I personally like to
1) squeeze and hug a squooshy toy
2) do some deep breathing exercises
3) make a checklist of things so that I can rationalise things instead of feeling overwhelmed or exaggerating what I have to do in my head
Such a great thread! With some awesome suggestions 
Mine are;
Walking the dog
Going to the gym
Play some video games or watch Netflix
Reach out to a close friend
Gardening
Practice slow breathing
This is an awesome thread! Thanks for starting it @Bella2! Everyone has some super cool suggestions, keen to try some of these out (:
When I'm a bit stressed I like to:
- Plan my gap year holiday
- Walk/play with my pets
- Chat to my mates (usually they don't know I'm stressed, we just facetime and talk about dumb stuff but it really helps haha)
- Attempt to write a song/poetry (eek!)
- Play animal crossing (teehee)
Stay safe everyone! Hope these suggestions help some people (:
@Bella2 Love this! My stomach completely knots up when I'm stressed so taking deep breaths is something I work on. @TawnyOwl I also love how you plan holidays! It's such a good way to make yourself have hope for the future. And @ayrc_1904 to-do lists are always good when you need to figure out how much you actually need to do.
- Get out and exercise! Extra points if you can make a social out of it 
- Creative writing, or some sort of expressive art! I also do cross stitch or embroidery
- eat outside of your room so you get away for a bit!
- Set aside a couple hours or a morning/evening every week where you promise not to do work. It's like setting aside time for a doctor's appointment.
- When I'm about to sit an exam, I actually pump myself up by moving around and shaking my body down so I can get rid of the nervous energy.
I wish I had seen this thread earlier and thank you for providing a lot of good suggestions!!!!
Here's how I manage and reduce stress in my everyday life...
1) Chewing gum before an interview or presentation
2) Listening to music
3) Breathing deeply (Even when your are stressed or behind deadline, don’t forget to breathe! )
4) Playing games (e.g., Bubble wrap?!)
It is quite hard to stay calm and not stressed during this covid time. Here's some of my tips: count down from 5, to 1. Breathe in and out while listening to a short 3 min meditation audio. Just noticing and taking in the beauty of the nature. I wanna know what works for you too!
this is a great thread! I personally:
- exercise: either going to the gym or doing a hike, I find the latter especially effective in staying calm because I'm surrounded by nature
- meditate: either guided meditation using the Smiling Mind app (https://www.smilingmind.com.au/smiling-mind-app) or other breathing exercises
- write lists: if I'm stressed/anxious about something in particular I find writing down a list of what I have to do makes me calmer as all the thoughts aren't just swirling around in my head
So many similarities in what we do to feel less stressed!
Things i like to do are;
- Arts and craft, particularly painting
- Writing poetry
- Going on ReachOut (Helping others helps to make me feel less stressed)
- Playing with my cats 
Awesome thread idea, I love all these suggestions!
I personally like to:
- Make sure I exercise
- Play some video games/watch TV to unwind
- Make sure I find some time to chat or see friends
- Sometimes if something in particular is making me feel stressed, I like to come back to it and work on something else in the mean time
- Try to not place too much pressure on myself in other areas of my life
- I also try to be conscious of my breathing and self-talk
I love this thread! Thank you for the coping strategy ideas everyone, I needed them! 🙂
I'll suggest some too
-splash your face with cold water for a minute to activate the 'mammalian dive reflex' (basically slows your heartbeat down)
-hug a pet or stuffed toy
-drink some herbal tea (anything that doesn't have caffeine)
-drink some ice cold water
-watch funny cat videos
-take some deep breaths
