Stress

"You see the world as you see yourself, as if looking at ones reflection in a pool of water. The more disturbed the pool is, the more it ripples with anger, spite and stress, the more distorted will be your perspective." -unknown

A lot of time at work I won't realize how stressed I am until I am so uptight and irritated it takes a lot of effort to bring me back down again. I'll realize I'm tapping my feet, my face is set into a concrete scowl and I'm not thinking straight. I hate feeling that way. It's inefficient, pointless.

I've discovered an interesting way of minimizing the chance of getting into that path of general pissed-off-ness.

I wear clothing that feels comfortable, and yet best suits the climate I'm anticipating, which in a work environment like mine is the usual recirculated-germ ridden-perfect -and-yet-never-quite-right sixty-two degrees.

During the day, I'll use my riding body temperature and then the ensuing discomfort as an indicator of increased blood pressure and stress. I'll locate the source of the stress and eliminate it, take a breather, slow down or maybe just grab a glass of water, until my body temperate comes back down to comfortable levels.

I'm my own thermostat, and it works like a dream. If I'm walking too fast, I slow down. If I'm getting annoyed, I'll take a deep breath and realize that hey, it's only work, and I have other more important things to get stressed about. Half of defeating stress for me is simply to recognize it, and this helps.

Any other stress relief suggestions?