Our topic this week is stress and how to combat it (at which point, I strike a pose and deliver a karate chop to stress’ midsection). Unfortunately, I’m not that great at dealing with stress. Mostly I run around gritting my teeth, clenching/unclenching my sweaty fists, and muttering under my breath. Not only does this not relieve my stress, it makes me appear a slight bit teched in the head. To top it off, there are some in this blogging group who wrote their blogs days ago–I won’t mention names, Bronwyn–creating a little stress for those of us who prefer the incentive of a deadline!
I digress, however. Back to stress. Yes. And combating it.Ā Yes.
Really I got nothin’. But I reached deep and pulled out…ta da…
The porch hammock!
There’s is nothing like a gently swinging hammock to make you relax. Once you get the motion down, that is. Hammocks can be a bit like horses–they’ll throw you in a minute if they think they can.
As if that’s not enough…I also have the crazy green chairs on the porch.
See, I like to sit on my porch with a big cup of coffee and a kid or a book. It’s very relaxing, especially when the vultures are hanging out in the dead tree across the road. Nothing like local wildlife to add to the ambiance. If you can ignore the fact that the vultures are only hanging out because there’s no carrion stinky enough to attract them, they’re quite peaceful to watch.
The porch…top notch stress beater!
There’s also gardening. At this point, I attempted to upload a pic of my fabulous DH busting some sod in the front flower bed, but alas the home Internet decided to konk out. So instead of uploading said photo, I clenched my fists and muttered a little.
My last stress buster…hitting the pool. I like to swim laps. Lots of them. As much as I love the farmette, it was a real blow to lose access to a pool big enough to swim laps in. Again no pic (reference above about sketchy home Internet). Also, my hands started to sweat here.
So…since I seem to have lost my ability to finish up this post, take a look at the blogs of my partners in crime. Bronwyn Green, Kris Norris, Jess Jarman, Leigh Jones, Jenny Trout, Gwendolyn Cease, and Kelly St. James.
While I wait, I’m going to go sit on the porch and grit my teeth.
UPDATE: I had to stop at McDonald’s on the way to my day job today to post this. Ahhh, rural Internet. But the counter girl was very friendly and the coffee was great. How about you? How do you combat stress?
Tess Grant 
I can’t believe you didn’t mention eating, especially chocolate!! But then that isn’t really a good stress buster–doesn’t do much but add to the waistline which then adds stress because nothing fits anymore. I would agree with that porch as an excellent stress buster, except for the fact we left an AWESOME porch when we moved to Hud and since our current porchette is just a sunbaked deck, it just isn’t the same. I guess I can hope for a big cup of coffee in the cupholder of my kayak on a calm, quiet lake/pond soon. Sounds nice about now………….I’m looking forward to de-stressing already!
I was trying to keep it healthy! I have to say the kayak, coffee, and quiet morning water sounds perfect.
That’s funny. I have to agree chocolate is my stress reliever of choice. Maybe if I had a front porch like yours…. I draw the lines at the hammock. Every time my hubby puts up the hammock, I end up at the bottom of the puppy pile. After it hits the ground š
Puppies and hammocks sound like a combination best avoided. š
I don’t so well with stress either. But your porch looks like an amazing place to relax š
Thank you! It’s a work in progress. It used to be very ugly–closed in with cheap windows. Then a big storm destroyed it and we re-created it as open with a railing. Love it so much more now.
I am currently coveting your porch hammock. I want.
Sorry about the internet. Internet woes stress me like you wouldn’t believe….and they tend to happen around here when the hubby is out of the country for work. The ensuing freak outs are probably amusing to those who witness them, but for me, not so much. Hope your issues are resolved soon and you’re back up and online soon!
Still down. I’m at the local coffee shop today. But the ISP assures me they are on their way!
OMG your porch!!! *WANT* I’m gonna show up at your house for stress relief time and claim that hammock. I’ll probably strangle myself with it which will probably add to both of our stress levels… So, maybe not. š
Also finishing my post early was me practicing avoidance techniques. š
Come up anytime! We’ll keep you away from the hammock and steer you toward a crazy green chair.
I agree. Bron and Jess need to stop stressing the rest of us out!
You do have an awesome porch. Very nice. I think I could destress there too! And I also agree with the comments about chocolate. How did I not think to mention this.
I know. Chocolate is good. However, I also lean toward guacamole.
Similar to the hammock, lying on a pool float and staring at the sky is a good way to de-stress.
Not that I want to do that NOW, with the pool a brisk 68 degrees. Brrr.
Love, love, love the water for de-stressing. But not quite that cold. But also not that weirdo thing they did back in the ’80s with the small dark box and you floated around in warm water. No, definitely not that.