Catharsis

So today we follow up yesterday's shorter blog by talking about catharsis. To be precise, catharsis is relief obtained through emotional release - Crying to feel better, screaming or punching things to feel better, et cetera, et cetera. It's the human race's number one stress relief method and it comes in many forms; Music, gaming, writing, working, whatever you can do that provides an emotional pressure valve for built up stress inside you. For me, music and gaming are two of the biggest sources of stress relief.

Whenever I'm feeling stressed out, I turn on my new favorite album or one of my favorite Pandora channels or Spotify / RDIO playlists, pull up a game I've been playing recently and turn the volume down, and just turn my brain off. I let the music wash over my mind and lose myself in the game. With this, the game distracts me from whatever is stressing me out, and the music helps me deal with the pent up emotions that the stress caused, allowing me to calm down and approach the problem later.

Sometimes that's hard to do - I may not be at home at the time, and thus not have those options available to me; I may be in the middle of an activity and not be able to deal with whatever is causing me the stress, or the game I'm playing may be the one causing the stress in the first place. In situations like that, I tend to just bottle it up and push it away - Which, eventually, results in all of that stress boiling to the top in an emotional volcano which is something I don't enjoy experiencing.

We all need that pressure valve, that catharsis, that keeps us from bottling our emotions up. Whatever it is, own it, and don't let it become the thing that stresses you out. 

"Senstaku"