Lately, I begin to realise about the importance of de-stressing. Face it, life sometimes gives us headache. Things do not go as planned and we are disappointed at certain project results. We have bad days, hard days. So what should we do?
We should de-stress.
Lately, I de-stress by being in the kitchen. It’s weird, but for the past five months I suddenly enjoy cooking in addition to baking. I have always loved baking (my specialty is brownies), and now I cook regularly too. And not just cooking spam and eggs, I do some fancy stuffs as well! Think of chilli prawn spaghetti, fishball mee pok and more! Oh, just follow me at Instagram @mpurnama to see my latest kitchen experiment.
Anyways, when I’m cooking, the point is not to finish as fast as possible: the point is to enjoy the process. You might find this odd, but I really enjoy chopping garlic. Yes, I’m odd. But I can chop garlic without really thinking. I can do something without really thinking and the end result is a happy belly.
That’s why I de-stress in the kitchen.
I believe that there are good ways and better ways to de-stress. Some years back, I de-stress by watching TV. I would watch movie upon movie upon movie and get nothing done. It’s good, but by the end of it, I feel that I’m getting more stressed because face it, I haven’t done anything useful. Even when countless people say that the time I enjoy wasting is not wasted at all, it still bugs me big time.
Other times I de-stress by reading a book. But sometimes this is counterproductive because I just want my brain to not work. Reading makes it work even harder, and while I love books, this activity makes me cranky.
Oh, I de-stress by cleaning the house too.
In sum, de-stressing for me is redefined as doing activities that don’t require brain power but still achieving something in the end. I get to shut down my brain but I get something done. And I enjoy the results afterwards.
Of course, a glass of wine is awesome too.
So. If you’re de-stressing and still feeling stressed, try doing what I’ve done. Of course, your ‘activity’ may be knitting. It may be gardening or drawing. If you really want to try my method, I can’t guarantee that you’ll enjoy it, but at the very least your apartment will be clean and you’ll have awesome dinner to accompany that beer while watching MasterChef.
Photo by J E Theriot, Creative Commons
