Take a break and chill!

Stress, Anguish and Anxiety, words that nowadays are heard countless times referring to immense situations and relevantly to the confinement of COVID.

Our mental and physical balance involves keeping them at lower, non-worrisome levels. In other words, although these are symptoms that we all experience in life at one time or another, if they interfere in our life in a way that conditions it, in terms of our routines, our work, our relationship with others, whether social, whether it is closer, then we have to be concerned and turn to someone who helps us to overcome them, such as a psychologist, for example.

However, and knowing that these are really symptoms that are also part of some moments in each of our lives, in the most stressful ones and in those that we have the most difficulty coping with, we must try to lower these stress levels, using individual strategies and each one will know which one is best for himself.

A day at work obliges us to perform a continuous activity of attention, concentration, physical or mental effort, subdividing ourselves into different tasks in almost timed times, which ends up causing us a high level of continuous weariness, leading us to feel tired at the end of a few hours. One of the factors that adds to this wear is the repetitive routines, as well as not breaking with the stimuli of the work or domestic environment in which we find ourselves inserted. So, to counter this fatigue and be able to distance ourselves from that environment, relaxing and forgetting for at least an hour, everything that comes with it, we should go out during the lunch break, to different places, allowing us to meet at least sometimes , with different people, who will bring us different dynamics and subjects.

In urban areas, how about we walk to a greener place, with a bit of nature, which immediately relaxes us, letting us sit peacefully on a bench, on a small wall, by the edge of a lake, where we can enjoy the pleasure of contents of our lunch box or something purchased at the time, accompanied or alone, enjoying the silence itself, letting yourself be lost in your thoughts... Having a coffee on the way back, outside the usual place and observing other people, another city shuttle, which not the usual.

Those who live in a more isolated environment will always be able, in the same way, not to have lunch at home, but to go somewhere outside the house, moving away and just relaxing. Or, why not take a bicycle or your car and travel to a busier area, where you can find (or have booked) a lively café that cuts through the day's solitude.

Have you ever tried to enter a church or a museum, or a cloister, on a hot day and let yourself rest in that silence and freshness, just with your thoughts?... Fantastic places when we really want to be alone without interruption and in a silent encounter with you himself, in a certain meditation.

Try in those moments to turn off your cell phones and the like, forget about any visual or sound interference, just listening and observing, around you or inside you.

How many times when we returned did we manage, in a rush, to solve that problem that seemed unresolved or finish writing that dissertation on a subject in question, which was suspended or knowing what to say, that person who was waiting for our advice or guidance.

These moments in which we manage to cut through the day with a refreshing and inspiring attitude, make us lighter, closer to nature and as such, to ourselves, renewing the balance of each one and in that way, promoting and maintaining our physical health and mental.

To remember this need when you feel seriously disturbed by stress, use a Mnemonic: Anxiety – Stress – Anguish: ASA! when you feel “ASA”, fly, freeing yourself from the daily routine, for even a few minutes, and feel lighter and more powerful again.

May the flight take you and bring you, renewed and freed!

Matilde Proença