What do you do to keep calm in uncertain moments?

14 comments

1. Two things, as well as just “be more mindful of my feelings and how not controlling them can hurt others.”

   1. Counting my fingers. I go 1 2 3 4, 4 3 2 1. Sometimes I vary the rhythm. I use my thumb on my index, middle, ring, then pinky finger, that’s 1234.

   2. Box breathing. 4 seconds inhale, hold it for 4 seconds, exhale for 4 seconds, then hold the emptiness for 4 seconds.

   That’s what I do, it might not work for everyone.

2. Talking two deep breats, figure what I will do in the next 5 minutes and then go from there

3. Cigarettes and alcohol, mostly.

4. It’s automatic for me. I never lose control.

   Choose some piece of the advice that people are giving you and practice it when small moments of stress appear. Practice it every day until it becomes habitual.

5. Jerk it

6. Try to compartmentalize the things that are causing you stress. The situation you’re in may have nothing to do with the stressor, so try to treat it as such.

   Example: if something happened at work that caused you stress, and you’re outside of work, understand that this is now your personal life and should not affect your professional life. There are some exceptions, of course, such as you wouldn’t want to get tanked right before work — that will definitely affect your performance.

   In short, try to separate the stressful situations from those that have nothing to do with it.

7. Similar boat, being in late 20s with an unhealthy relationship with stress too. Though mine isn’t so much losing temper, but the opposite. Buckling down and tunnel-visioning on the thing causing me stress until I’ve resolved it.

   I’m sure there’s a happy median between us, just wanted to set up a guard rail on the opposite end of the spectrum to avoid a polar swing from any other advice on here.

   My current approach is to just minimize stress in general, but that’s not really an answer on what to do when it happens. Haven’t figured that part out myself yet

8. Realize that im the only one in the situation that is going to do it so someone has to

9. Been firefighter, EMT, military and security guard. Being calm is always easier when you have trained to deal with situations. Including how to adapt to unfamiliar situations.

10. “roll a fag” is what I do in my job when something goes wrong. Even if you don’t smoke, pretend you are rolling a fag and it’ll help you compose yourself for a minute or two.

    Also, short temper is a sign of low mental health, so maybe keep an eye on yourself.

11. Cardio and gym. The only cure.

12. Hey me too. Late 20s and also loosing my temper very quickly
    I am also looking for tips to calm down

13. Take a deep breath and count to five before you respond

14. Try to embrace what a Jedi would do in that moment. Fake it until you make it!