A little something on relaxation

Lately I’ve been in an all out search for anything I can do to make stress just a little easier to handle. I don’t know why, but the closer I get to graduation the higher my stress and anxiety levels seem to get. I do have a few ideas for why this may be:
1. Life is not all that it’s cracked up to be. It’s more work than fun, which is a bit of a disappointment and slightly depressing when I think about how fun my childhood is.
2. I say is because I still feel like a kid (or want to still feel like a kid). I don’t feel like I’m truly ready to be out “on my own.”
3. Uncertainty of what I should do or want to do when I graduate.
4. It’s my senior year and I’m looking back at how fast time has gone and maybe I feel like I didn’t savor it?
Whatever the cause is, I don’t like the feeling. I’m sure nobody does and I’m also sure I’m not the only one whose feeling this way at least to some extent.

So, in my relentless search for relaxation and for what I’m going to call “mind relief,” I’ve come across a few interesting interventions that have been helping me out a bit. I’ve tried the meditation and it helps, for about a half hour. I love taking drives with my window down even if its pretty cold, love the wind. But, the minute I’m out of my car, I’m back to my anxiety stricken reality. I’m getting back into riding and I love that too, but it’s more or less the same deal as with my car, it only works to the extent that I’m actually riding my bike.

This has led me to be believe, I think, that my anxiety and stress is best treated through distractions. As long as I am distracted, I am calm and relaxed, as long as I can keep those pesky, anxiety provoking thoughts out, I’m a happy camper. But, the dilemma is that you can’t be distracted all the time, can you?
I don’t know the answer to that and I’m guessing that it’s probably really complicated but I damn sure keep trying. Probably the best thing I have found thus far is this idea of using music or noise in the background to promote better sleep or deeper meditation. If you don’t know this already, I’m a huge fan of music, I can listen to it all day, literally non-stop, if I had the chance. I’m also a huge fan of good sleep. I’d rather get a bad grade on a paper then stay up trying to make it perfect and what better way to relax than by turning off all of your sensory perceptions so that the world can’t keep bothering you.

So, in conclusion to my ranting and venting, here are some sites I’ve been personally using. You can use more than one at the same time, one and some music, or whatever you want. I’ve used rainy mood a lot but the lack of volume control is extremely annoying so now I use sound sleeping with some low music in the background or simply noise in the background haha. Maybe all this “sound therapy” is helpful to me because I come from probably one of the loudest cities in the world?
Sound Sleeping
Rainy Mood
Simply Noise
Instead of stressing, have yourself some kitty time lol. Trust me, it’ll make you feel better.

Or a drive in the rain.