4 Creative Ways To Cope With Stress

Stress has a funny way of sneaking up on us. If we aren’t careful it can not only affect our mental health, but our physical health as well. I’ll be sharing some creative ways to cope with stress next time you find yourself feeling stressed.

We all know that stress is not fun, but there is more that we can tend to forget about when it comes to stress. It affects our health too. Stress can cause headaches, panic attacks, heart and stomach problems, and much more.

The American Psychological Association has a great resource you can go to to see the effects stress can have on your whole body. While it is important to avoid stress, that’s not always realistic. We’ve got to learn how to cope with it until it is resolved.

4 Creative Ways To Cope With Stress

Interactive Activities

This is a great thing to do if you need a break from what is stressing you, although maybe not the best idea if finances is what is causing you stress. These activities have become increasingly popular over the years. Think—escape rooms, axe throwing, and paint classes, to name a few.

Activities like this can get you focused on something other than what you are stressing about, at least for a little while. You’ll be doing something different and some of them, like axe throwing, are a great way to get some of the frustration that stress can bring.

Spend Time Playing

This is another example of how to take a break from the things that are causing you stress. Our GenTwenty Editor-in-Chief Nicole has a lot of great tips in her book, The Kidult Handbook, and we have a podcast episode all about the importance of playing as an adult. The main idea here is that playing as an adult can give you the child-like joy that we all have forgotten the importance of. 

As a child stress wasn’t something on our radar. We could just be present and excited at any moment. As adults we need this from time to time, which is why playing should be a common occurrence in our life.

Some examples of play that Nicole and Marina discuss on the podcast are making Frosé, working on a puzzle, baking, painting, and more. What examples can you come up with?

Sticker Journaling

I saw this concept on TikTok not too long ago. I can’t wait to implement it myself and finally justify my obsession with stickers. Basically what you do is pick a random quote sticker then put it in your journal.

Then write down whatever comes to mind when you read it. In regards to coping with stress it would be best to pick quotes that are positive and inspiring. The Happy Planner has great themed sticker books. Doing this activity is simply a way to pause and reflect when the stress gets to be too much. 

Write It Out, Then Throw It Out

This might not be as creative as other activities on the list, but you can make it creative. I know that when I’m stressed my mind can go in a million different directions.

Sometimes you just need to get it all out on paper to process it all. So that’s what you would do here. 

Write it, doodle it, whatever you need to do. The point is to completely empty your brain of anything that is causing you stress. After you do this now comes the fun part.

You simply get rid of the paper. Tear it up and throw it in the trash, throw it in the fireplace, or try to be creative with how you get rid of it, just do it safely. 

To be clear, throwing out what you write doesn’t mean that you ignore everything you were stressing over. Tasks still need to be done, bills still need to be paid, etc.. This is simply an exercise to help you physically be set free from the pressure of everything hitting you at once.

Writing out gives you clarity about what steps to take, while throwing it out helps you to physically see that the stress doesn’t have the power to weigh you down.

Did these activities inspire you in any way? I hope you’ll try them out next time you are feeling the pressure that stress brings.

Do you have other creative ways to cope with stress that didn’t make the list? Let me know what they are in the comments!

 

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