I’ve been seeing ads for these doohickies called Fidget Spinners. I’m not clear on what good they are, but they seem to be very popular and some people have become absolute wizards at the darn things. It won’t be long until there’s a movie based upon them, I bet.
I think those spinner things are just the latest in a long line of gimmicks to reduce stress. I assume you’ve seen those gooshy rubber “stress balls”, and Worry Stones and the like have been around for ever. We used to use Mood Rings to try and utilize biofeedback to reduce stress. It basically all just sells a lot of junk that will be in yard sales for generations to come.
Wow, I sound curmudgeonly!
Today has been a stressful day at work. I don’t have any gizmos to help me reduce that stress, but the 5 o’clock whistle will blow soon (figuratively anyways, I’m not Fred Flintstone working at the quarry), and I’ll leaving this stressful environment for a few hours.
If course, the next hour or so will be in my truck, in traffic, so I’ve really traded one stress-ville for another. But in my truck, my only job is to avoid getting hit, and not run people over – I’m pretty good at that. And I can choose my audio input – a little talk radio, a lot of music.
Today, the CD is Red Allen – wow – stress just rolls off as I hear that perfect bluegrass, the soaring harmonies (with old school distortion on the recording), his wonderful Southern diction and his glorious, almost obnoxious G-runs.
After a quick dinner, it’s off to rehearsal, and while there are stresses to rehearsing, it’s very energizing to work on music with fine musicians. We push we pull, we play and we re-play. We juggle arrangements, and harmonies – for me, it’s like a great workout at the gym only with less smell and sweat.
I doubt anyone lives a life without stress. The trick is to find things to do to clear your mind and cleanse your soul. For some folks, a trip to the gym does exactly that. For me, it’s music (playing or listening) or reading. I’m thankful to have these effective methods to keep from going nuts.
Now I’m home writing this, totally relaxed. But don’t worry. In about 8 hours I get to fight commute traffic again.
