Stress

Life is stressful; live with a neurodivergent brain is much more so.

Relieving stress: stress cycles¶

Separating the stress from the stressor can be a really useful technique: even if you can’t do anything about the thing that’s causing you stress right now, you can sometimes

Things that I find useful include:

• Exercise — This is always the most effective stress relief for me and I always feel better afterwards. It helps if I do it regularly, both because it helps keep my stress under control but also because when I’m less fit exercise makes me more tired which is frustrating and counterproductive (and also tends to put me off wanting to exercise in the first place).
  • Running
  • Swimming (open water if possible, but indoors is ok too)
  • Hiking
  • Climbing
  • Walking
  • Cycling
• Playing music — I play the accordion, and I can’t think about anything else while I’m playing so it’s a great way to distance myself mentally from a stressful situation
• Writing/journalling — I’ve found that writing out 2–3 pages by hand can be really cathartic; sometimes I find writing specifically about what’s bothering me helpful, both to examine the problem from a distance and to get it recorded somewhere