When you feel the unhappy, stressed out and worried, what do you do to make yourself feel better?

Drink. Um, no, nevermind.

I imbibe certain substances said to make one feel slightly better, or think that they feel better. Or I go to sleep. Or I just trudge forward.

Drink. Um, no, oh yes, that’s exactly what I do.

I tend to sit down for about an hour and work out exactly what is wrong and why I’m feeling what, once you do that a solution is much clearer and so the stress goes away.

@Melonking That sounds like the best avenue…but so much work!

Take a pill and sleep if it gets to be that bad. After that? A loooong movie like Giant on DVD,
Misery , What About Bob? or some other movie that takes me out of the doldrums.

Be kind to myself. Give myself permission to take a day off from my usual responsibilities. If I am not at work or can have a mental health day I spend the day doing things I feel like doing. Go for a walk, watch a film I have wanted to watch, read a book, go for lunch with a friend. Have a long bath while I look out into the garden, perhaps with a glass of wine, some nice music.

If I have to work, I put happy music on to listen to on the way to work and do tasks that don’t demand too much thought or decision making.

If I am worried about something specific, I might talk it over with someone to try to find some solutions or a different perspective or at other times if it is something I can’t control, the best cure is to try not to think about it. So I try to distract myself.

TRY to focus in on the good stuff in my life, and remember about the bad, “This too shall pass.”

Chamolie tea, a hot bath.

Walk, listen to some music while I do so. Call a friend. Calmly express my emotions to some one.

If it’s really bad, go to an AA meeting. Drinking never ever worked for me.

No drinking for me, this only intesifies the stress!

I pretty much just get in my car and drive. I’ll go to a museum or library or a movie or sit in a diner booth… wherever that catches my fancy and keeps my mind off of whatever it is that’s got me in a funk. But, when I do want to “face the problem” or at least asses the situation, I either a) take a long hot shower, which is not really for cleanliness but just me standing under the showerhead thinking; or b) take a long walk in the really early morning or evening.

Sleep – a lot.

I find going to bed early and napping at lunch for a few days helps. I get much more stressed and lose perspective if I’m underslept.

Certain music really helps—music that matches my mood, not music that opposes it. It works in a cathartic sort of way.

Depending on what the trouble is, some of these things might help: writing, talking to someone close, taking a vigorous walk alone, driving alone to a nice outdoor spot with a long, scenic view where I can sit and think, or going somewhere public where I can be completely anonymous in a crowd, such as to a movie.

I would not regard drinking as any sort of help or relief. It’s just going to cause other problems.

I don’t. Life is pain. Pain is how you know you’re still alive. Misery is the natural condition of humanity. Happiness is not a superior state; one can induce happiness with drugs quite easily. The Ubermensch shoulders the burden, no matter how heavy it may be, and simply endures. What else is there?

In the Desert
by Stephen Crane

In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
Who, squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it.
I said, “Is it good, friend?”
“It is bitter – bitter”, he answered,
“But I like it
Because it is bitter,
And because it is my heart.”

The most effective way to relieve stress is to talk things out with someone who will listen.

Srrry for the typos. That’s supposed to be chamomile tea.

Try a Gourmet Lollipop (brand) in Wild Cherry. They’re fifty cents each, look like a candy apple and I get them at Family Dollar or some drugstore whose name escapes me. The one with the huge red letters on the front. I can never remember the name of that drugstore. It isn’t Costco; the other one.
Anyway, I eat them when I’m stressed which is actually most of the time!