De-Stress with Geo – 20 Ways to Relax

Sounds kind of odd doesn’t it. Oh well. This post is about getting rid of some stress. Any one in filmmaking goes through some stress. Working with other people in general can cause stress and the time crunches on set, flakiness(not like a biscuit), dead lines, different areas of production, different departments, everything coming together at a specific time, etc… is enough to make you need some serious medications. So you need a way to relax and get rid of stress or you will explode.

We all have our ways to relax…whether it’s watching movies(pretty normal for filmmakers for obvious reasons), being outdoors, exercising, shooting black tar heroin, going shopping, listening to music, playing music(one of my personal favorites), dancing, playing video games, I think you get the idea. All of these things keep us sane and if we run ourselves all the time, we don’t do these things and it affects our craft and our relationship with everyone else in our lives because we become moody and mean.

Learn some ways to relax after the leap!

So how about we look at some cool ways to relax…

1. Watch Movies (already mentioned, but a great way to reduce stress and to study your craft if you’re a filmmaker)

2. Go outside – nowadays so many people are trapped in little cubicles and some of us don’t have windows in our office.

3. Take a dance class – this one is highly recommended. It saved me years back. When you take dance, you have to focus on what you’re learning, focus on what your body is doing, work closely with another person to get the steps coordinated, focus on what’s going on around so other people don’t ram into you, etc… Plus it’s social.

4. Get out around people – this depends on the person and your job. If you work around lots of people you may want to do the opposite, but it can cheer you up and help you relax to be around friends.

5. Get up off your butt – Exercise can be very similar to dance. Especially if you work out with others. You get that motivation, you get those endorphins, etc…

6. Talk to a friend on the phone – Have a fun conversation with a friend, catch up, see what they’re up to. You may not want to call friends that are having huge troubles if you’re already stressed out. Call them after you relax and help them relax. 🙂

7. Drink more water – this one helps…not sure what else to say…pretty self explanatory.

8. Go shopping – this is another that can stress some and relax others. This one is not a personal favorite of mine…but there others in the world besides me. “Or are there?” said the solipsist.

9. Take a day off work – be sure not to do work the whole day like I’ve done on days off. 🙂

10. Listen to music

11. Play some music – do you play an instrument? Why not? Pick something up and play it. Just learning can be relaxing.

12. Squeeze – you can get one of those little stress balls and squeeze it.

13. Punch – take out frustration on a heavy bag.

14. Take a nap – sometimes you’re so stressed that it’s nice to just take a nap.

15. Sing – you may need to be in your car or shower for this one.

16. Have some soup – I’ve read that warm water is good for stress.

17. Do some deep breathing exercises – breath in for 10-30 seconds hold it for the 10-30 seconds then exhale the same amount. By focusing on the count it takes your full concentration. You can picture focus on the airflow to take even more concentration.

18. Go on a news fast for a while – don’t get the paper, don’t watch the news, etc… that stuff stresses you out and in most cases, there is very little you can do about it. Once you calm down you can go back to it, but try it for a week. The world will most likely not end.

19. Go to bed early – get some rest.

20. Watch funny videos on YouTube. I’ll get you started with some videos below. Some of these will get eyes rolling of people I know…which could make number 21. Annoy your friends with funny videos.

Old Gregg Full (HD Version)

I’M OLD GREGG!

Cats Playing Patty-cake, what they were saying…

This is hkbecky’s video, Imagine what it would be if you could hear cats talking…. ps this is not my video…just my voice over. I give all video and cat credit to hkbecky at www.youtube.com

I’ve seen this one about 100 times…still cracks me up.

Big cat vs Little cat

******SUBSCRIBE TO ME FOR THE LATEST VIDEOS****** A little cat mocks a big cat and the big cat knocks it down

No More Kings “Sweep the Leg”

myspace.com For fans of great music and “The Karate Kid”. The “Sweep the Leg” music video is for the first single by a new band No More Kings. The video features the cast of the original “Karate Kid” including Johnny (the bad guy), Daniel-son (the go…

One of my favorites!

Terry Tate – Office Linebacker – Original Pilot

This is the original pilot for the Terry Tate – Office Linebacker concept. The original pilot is MUCH more funny than anything that appeared on network television because of the language restrictions. Enjoy! Oh, and vote OBAMA!

Any other suggestions for relaxing?