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This thread is NOT to be used for political rants but for Human commiserations
I’m curious if everyone is stressed out like I am. Between economic downturns, election craziness, COVID infections and deaths, fires... etc I’m a little frazzled. I take mental health days. I use music creation therapeutically. Sometimes it’s hard to focus with all the crazy simmering in the background...
So, I’d like to ask a few questions about anxiety and how you cope.
Love you all.
- Does making music help your stress levels?45 votes
- Yes very46.67%
- Yes some33.33%
- A little15.56%
- Not very much4.44%
Comments
The last question is meant for a discussion prompt.
Hmm the poll disappeared...
Anyway what other ways are you coping?
Don't give-up hope, @audiblevideo!!!
(You haven't disappeared!) 😊
clonazepam, reading, music, spending time with the pets, clonazepam.
Can’t really add much apart from a lame ‘hang in there’ (unless you’re in London in which case I’d buy you a beverage of your choice). I don’t feel much anxiety. Rage and disgust on the other hand...
@JeffChasteen wtf is clonazepam? Is that like vegemite or marmade?
Marzipan? (Just kidding)
I take medication. I'm no more stressed than usual. Making music is good for stress relief but it also makes me stressed because I know I should be doing other things that are probably more important.
Music does help, but music is also my full time job, so its also an added stress. When i can work on stuff i love, it helps, but when im working for a client, or my publisher etc, its just stress. Also, because of everything going on, work is basically at a stand still. I still have some trickling in here and there, but for the most part I feel like the industry has frozen.
I deal with stress by:
*Getting plenty of exercise. I do yoga twice a day, once first upon waking, and again sometime in the afternoon. I Also do cardio once a day, as well as some sort of other workout wether it be strength training, a hike or whatever.
*Eating healthy - mental health starts in the gut. Take care of your body, and feed it proper nutrients. I drink alcohol, but try to limit it. I also limit my caffeine intake to one cup of coffee a day.
*Meditation. Daily. To me, this just means listening to some soft relaxing music, lights down, phone off, eyes closed. Almost a nap even.
*Keeping the house clean - I know this sounds silly, but its true, a clean house / workspace is essential to me. A clutter free environment can help with a clutter free mind. I clean quite literally daily.
*Spending time outdoors, preferably in nature. THIS IS SO IMPORTANT to me. We as humans are meant to be outdoors, with the dirt in our toes, and the sun on our skin. If you cant get to a local park, beach, hiking trail etc at least once a day, just step outside to your front porch or back yard for an hour with a book ( or your ipad and some headphones) Try to get dirty!! Garden, play in the dirt. Dont let society's programing that dirt is dirty take away your joy in life! Camping is essential to me as well. I try to go monthly, if not at least every other month. I have the luxury of living near a ton of great camp sites / big nature, so theres no excuse.
*Talking with friends and family. Super important. Even if its just sending a stupid meme or something, at least you can keep the communication open and flowing.
*Microdosed Plant Therapy. For me its mushrooms. I take very small amounts periodically to help with my depression and anxiety. Has helped me tremendously. May not be for everyone. Use caution.
Now, with all that being said, i of course still get anxious quite frequently. Especially with all thats going on in the world. Its natural to feel these things, and its best to not beat yourself up about it. Talk to someone. Dont be afraid to open up to a close friend or loved one. Do your best to stay positive, but dont get down on yourself if you have some bad days. wish you the best of luck! You can always reach out to me on DM here as well, same goes for anybody on the forum.
Sorry to hear you are going through a stressful patch. 2011 to somewhere in 2019 were the worst for me. Thankfully it cleared up right before this brave new normal as it could have been truly horrid timing if this happened just a couple years before.
As for media pollution, I just look mainly at local news for 5 to 10 minutes a day, unless there are some other truly epic headlines. No social media etc, beyond this forum. I figure why even bother trying to parse the whole Joke of the media distortion lens anymore? I can live like a semi-oblivious bushman in the city even more so now that I don't have to go to an office and listen to chatter. The mental clarity and quiet I have now is a huge breath of fresh air working from home. Just me and the mrs all cozy in our bunker in the sky with grocery delivery. I could live out the second half of my life like this and be quite happy never commuting or setting foot in an office again, so that has lowered my pre-covid stress massively.
But yah in the bad olde times BM3 in particular was a godsend. Music is the best relief as I keep it ‘no strings attached’, no expectations, no plans, no promises, no stress, yoga for the mind. I don’t think I will ever try to take it seriously in terms of external world / social / competitive results as it would probably kill it for me.
Making music can definitely be a good way to destress. Walking and exercise help. I had stopped meditating for a few months but started again recently, and I do that in various ways depending on my level of concentration at that given moment and the direction I want to send my mind/body in. Sometimes I do it in ways that actively generate positive moods, at other times much more just to quieten the mind and calm the body (we speak about these as though they are separate, but let's remember they aren't). Working up a sweat dancing while listening to some good music helps my mood immensely, as does a nice catch-up with friends, whether on the phone or in person.
Oh yah, all great advice. Exercise and a tidy home. Talking to my family on the phone, walking in nature etc. As for plant therapy I take not so micro cbd and thc tinctures 2-3 times a week, but cant vape or smoke, recently relearned that. They are doing government approved medical mushroom therapy tests here now and I imagine it will open up in the next ten years or so. Just in time for early retirement!
Thanks all. Since this is a dialog I’ll confess to doing all those things, though with the heat and fires not so much exercise.
I definitely get a creeping nagging feeling making music sometimes, like I should be doing something more constructive. I’ve though about those feelings and thoughts deeply. I realize it’s very much part of my nature to care - sometimes too much. I’ve got a lot of empathy for things that are hurt or people who are in distress, or giant injustices that need to be fixed.
For instance:
I’ve been to the Great Barrier Reef decades ago and I’ve seen it’s wonder directly. It is not an abstract concept to me, and I am horrified by what it is now. I lived in Australia for 4 years in my childhood and to see last year billions of animals burn and suffer has really broken my heart.
These are the big picture things that on an individual level I am not entirely responsible for. However, they get mixed in with all the other uncertainties of life that are more personal. With Death in the family and taking care of older parents in the middle of other people’s similar misfortunes on a national and global scale it is hard to separate the large scale suffering from my personal distress.
Sometimes it’s all just one big feeling. Like I said I’ve done all the things to help alleviate some of the anxiety, and it works. It’s never permanent, but it’s never so overwhelming as to be incapacitating. However the cognitive dissonance of this time in history is exhausting and mind boggling.
I wish there was a switch to clear people’s minds, to see we are all in the same situation, and that our fates are tied, entangled, and intertwined intimately to each other. Unfortunately the bulk of that comes from the singular and personal growth of each individual and it comes with time or not at all.
Nothing is guaranteed. I wish us all well, but sometimes nihilism gets the better of me. I wanted to see how everyone else was coping, hoping that putting it out there might help some.
Thank you all for this great space.
@audiblevideo i absolutely understand where you are coming from. The big picture things getting mixed in with the personal. Its quite a lot. It helps me to believe / Hope that while there is a lot of change happening in the world right now, much of it negative (perspective), that it will all eventually be for the better. Who knows really.
I feel this is going to come off wrong. I really hope not. It’s honest and from the heart because it has helped me.
I never realized until recently that I identify deeply with Stoic philosophy. Marcus Aurelius and all that. There is just so much there that helps me: acceptance, putting tings in perspective, letting go of things beyond my control, believing that I can get a grip on myself, focusing on my own character and not that of others ... I read Marcus Aurelius and for some reason I get comfort and confidence that I can overcome depression and anxiety. It just resonates with me and helps me so much.
I also know that it is absolutely, definitely, not for everyone. Everyone is different, and what comforts me, I’ve learned the hard way, is exactly the wrong thing to suggest to many (most?) people. Oh hell, I’ll be honest, I’m the only person I know that takes comfort in Stoicism. So I’m guessing it’s silly to have even written about it here. But I’m gonna post it all the same.
Apologies in advance.
@wim definitely Stoicism has been having a bit of a moment in recent years. It has some good things to offer and is a good reminder of how there is sometimes less difference between ancient Western thought and ancient Eastern thought.
The worst thing, today, I think, is a particular, very American, brand of self-help where you have to be positive all the time and believe that if you are not happy it is your own fault. That all pain is self-created. Pain and discomfort are sometimes necessary for change. But sometimes there is a happy ending and sometimes not. There are times when we need to accept and times when we need to act. All philosophies and self-help strategies are just tools, and the key is to apply the most appropriate tool at the most appropriate time. There's no one-stop shop for happiness and wellbeing. That's my tuppence-worth.
I put ‘yes some’ albeit a couple weeks ago I would have put ‘yes a little’.
From personal perspective, so far, this pandemic has been a bit of a blessing. I managed to tie all the loose ends in the house and the garden, spent tones of very happy and productive time with the kids and was able to fully submerge in music (while the kids were away for a month). I am one of the fortunate self employed individuals who got gov financial help and this had a major influence on my mood.
What didn’t get too well. Well, especially at the start of the third month of lockdown I started to feel I missed live music with my band, the playing, songwriting and the banter. The zoom and the various online jamming ‘solutions’ didn’t do it for us. Fortunately when things relaxed a bit we’ve managed to squeeze a couple of productive outdoor jams and in the last month we’ve been playing a cosy low key sets at the local pub to try out the new material but also to keep the rust at bay.
I’m generally a super positive person with a fair amount of luck and stamina in my life so mentally I’m cool. I have a friend who’s dad has just been diagnosed with terminal cancer and they’re shielding so I can’t see much of her and even when we do the 2m apart conversation is the best we can do, which is a massive downer for me. Still complaining about this might be considered frugal considering what some people are going through.
If I’m worried at all, it is mostly about the months/years ahead. If there is no drastic change in Covid situation I can see things getting much worse. There’s a lot of people completely exposed financially with no home ownership who will find it very hard to deal with anymore financial stress. There’s winter and Brexit on the horizon. At times it feels as if we’re only just emerging from a Covid19 honeymoon period.
Let’s hope we won’t hit any socially dark times and if we do, the change is not going to be too distruttive and definitely for the better.
Each individual sees the world through their own personal filters. What stresses one person will be water off a ducks back to another.
You have got to find your own way of coping with stress. Music, excercise, more sleep, whatever works.
I gave up alcohol as I found it was making me feel anxious even days after I had consumed it.
I’ve been a hardcore meditator for +25 years and although I wouldn’t call myself a Buddhist these days, I can’t scape the years of study. That’s my way of dealing with stress.
By the way I considered stoicism for a while too.
Physical exercise is a must too. For stress I don’t find anything better than boxing (I mean hitting the sack, not the person) but whatever cardio you can do.
Nature.
All the silence you can get.
Music for me works better when listening. Making it is more for the creative forces in this mind.
In a nutshell is dealing with the fact that this life is full of shitty stress and at the same time that there is something that nothing and nobody can break. Deep inside, in the middle of it all, all the time.
Marzipan actually works for me.... maybe it’s the almonds?
I would also recommend to anyone going through any kind of health or mood issues, if they are any kind of a regular drinker, to give up booze for at least a while and see the difference it can make to how healthy and happy you feel. Absolute game changer for some...
I take 20mg of Lexapro daily and hemp flower has helped my chronic pain and helped my overall mood.
I have tuned out all political and worldly news in my life. Only visit this forum and YouTube mostly. All music related. I’ve shifted my focus or time spent going down rabbit holes to exploring sound.
I would love to get out in nature more, however, it’s over 100 degrees where I live daily. But all that will change soon. My family will be moving to New Mexico soon where it’s at least 20 degrees cooler now and plenty of sites to explore.
I wish all of you the best during these trying times. If you ever need someone to chat with, don’t hesitate to hit me up.
+1
Considering the current political, economic, pandemical, and environmental situation we're in I'd be worried if I wasn't worried.
My anxiety is just my worrying getting out of hand, so I bash it back down with work, booze, book reading, walking and lately - gardening. Yes, I'm that old. But the most fun thing for scaring away the demons is getting lost in creative persuits. Usually that's mostly making silly noises for me, but recently it's been arty farty painting.
Thinking about creative projects, planning creative projects, even if I don't get the chance to carry them out banishes the blues for me. A distraction - maybe. But if it works Desmond, then do the thing. Enjoy it all while we still can and put your energies into something worth energising.
You should venture over to the Forum collabs thread. Some cool stuff being created over there.
Edit: https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/40200/forum-collabs-remixes-etc#latest
Yeah maybe, I've done a couple of things with @JohnnyGoodyear in the past. I've recently moved house though so my time is stretched to a very long stretchy thing at the moment.
Cool, good luck with the move
eeeh....uuuh....mmmm...
Music, while fun and creatively rewarding is insignificant compared to the realities of raising children, bills, crime, housing, etc..... So I voted “Not very much”.