Dealing With Stress

I know a lot of people say "When I'm really stressed out, there is nothing better than leaving it all in the gym."    Getting a good sweat going, getting a rush in the endorphins and just slugging it out with yourself. For me though, when I have a crappy day, or things don't go the way I want, I find that working out only gets me more pissed off.  With the exception of swimming, any other form of exercise still hurts, and takes massive amounts of motivation to get through.  

For me, though, I need to find other forms of stress relief, especially considering I'm also in school in addition to working full time, so making a quick jaunt to the gym isn't always convenient or possible.  And, since it is Winter Time, it's not like I can take a walk around the block to deal with stress (well, I could, but I'd freeze my tush off, and most likely slip and break something on the ice)

Over Christmas, one of my husbands cousins mentioned how much she loves to color when she is stressed out.  So, considering that anything is better than stress-eating, I decided I would give it a shot.  I was feeling very "Mr. Rogers Neighborhood" as I went to Wal-Mart and bought my Crayons and Coloring Book, but really, when we were kids who didn't like when the teacher gave us "coloring time".  It was the best.  And that box of 96 fresh crayons with their pretty points- what looked better?

So, here is my coloring book
It was $0.99

And my crayons
The box said that it had 120 colors but really it's 2 boxes of 48 and a box of 24-  I feel gypped, but what can you do!

I must confess I am a rusty colorer-  as I broke my sky blue crayon I was coloring my Care Bear-  perhaps a sign of how pissed/annoyed/stressed I was.  And, I also forgot that Care Bears have white stomachs (how I missed the ones on the cover, God only knows)

But, without further ado...  my "SuperStar" CareBear

And, cousin Nora was right... it really is a stress reliever.  I felt so much better after finishing my creation, without reaching for the Ice Cream (which I don't have in my house anyway-  but the point was to find something to help soothe other than food).

Perhaps we should all go back to the childhood days of coloring.  We could start a coloring revolution!

If you have any other suggestions for helping cope with stress, or getting over a bad day, I'd love to hear em.  And let me know if you decide to give coloring a try-  I'd love to see your pictures if you do!