Here are 10 fun stress relief activities. These are simple ways to explore your inner creative voice while disabling the negative influences that may bother you from time to time. They may not all work for you, but hopefully one or more of the following techniques will serve as the artistic equivalent of stress relief therapy.

Design a Postcard that you do not Intend to Send

Whether it’s a love note addressed to a person you’re not ready to confess your feelings to or some inner anger you know it’s better not to say it, sometimes enumerating all the details can deflate the problem. Although the writing of the text can be therapeutic, the design of the postcard gives even more value to the object. It also allows you to activate different parts of your brain while relaxing in a manner like coloring in a coloring book. Be creative and make it colorful and allow yourself the express your feelings through your artwork. It doesn’t have to be perfect; your goal is to allow yourself to let out some steam and to relieve some stress and anxiety. After you completed your postcard and depending on the circumstance you may just want to put it in the drawer or throw it into the trash. Once you do that, you’ll find that its message has lost its power.

[tcb-script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"][/tcb-script][tcb-script] (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});[/tcb-script]

Create a Collage Through Cutting and Pasting

Create a painting on a material such as paper or cardboard. When finished, cut it or tear it up. Then use the pieces as building blocks for a new piece of art – a collage. See how your original work of art turns into something new and exciting, something unpredictable. This exercise highlights the proximity between creation and destruction, encouraging us to take risks to push ourselves creatively and in other aspects of life.

Watch a Movie is a Fun Stress Relief Activity

Another one of my favorite pass times is just to get some popcorn, grab a blanket, get cozy, and watch a movie on Netflix or Amazon. Watching movies especially comedies allows you to escape from your current troubles and worries and into a world of make believe. Okay maybe not make believe but you can enjoy a good movie and get a good laugh or cry if you like mushy romantic movies with a happy ending.  So, go ahead and pick out your favorite movie, and enjoy, relax and let the tension release from your mind and body.

Knitting is Proven to Help with Relieving Stress

There has been recent research to show that knitting has a significant effect on relieving stress and anxiety. In an international survey, revealed that there is a strong connection between knitting and feelings of happiness and calmness. Also, the activity itself, gives knitters a sense of community as knitters become a part of a local knitting group or an online community.  When you are giving back to the community you are also helping to relieve loneliness, depression, and anxiety. So, knitting can provide many mental health benefits as well. Most importantly, it builds confidence, as well as a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment when you have a finished a product — especially one that’s as useful and beautiful.

Watercolor your Body Condition

Lie down and close your eyes. Visualize your body as you inhale and exhale. Try to imagine your breath as a color when it enters your body, another color when it comes out. What do you see? Draw the outline of a body on a large sheet of paper and, inside, create a watercolor based on your physical condition. Think about what these colors mean to you, where they are the densest, where they are the opaquest. Consider this as the most relaxing self-portrait you can create.

Create a Zentangle Inspired Creation

Zentangle is a drawing method invented by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas, designed to make the drawing meditative and accessible to all. To learn the official method, a Zentangle teacher needs to teach you, but you can recreate the basic idea for yourself. Use a piece of paper, cut out a 3.5 “square and draw a freehand border around the pencil edge. Then use your pencil to draw a curved line or scribble in the border, called “string.”

Now, go to a pen and start drawing an “entanglement”, a series of patterns and shapes around your “chain” and voila! You have a Zentangle yourself. The process is designed to encourage deliberate and ritual creation and to allow human error – no erasure, this is against the rules. The traditional zentangles are always in black and white but we fully support the experiences with the color. The whole process should not take more than 15 minutes and can be repeated whenever you feel the need. Keep 3.5-inch squares at your fingertips so you can always create inspiration. These fun drawings are a great tool for letting go and help to reduce stress.

[tcb-script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"][/tcb-script][tcb-script] (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});[/tcb-script]

Be a Mindful Listener

What I find personally satisfying is waking up in the morning to the sounds of birds chirping outside my bedroom window.  These are things we sometimes take for granted, but if you just take a moment to listen to your surroundings you will find some birds singing or some other soothing sounds. For example, like calming waters if you’re near a creek, or the rain falling or the wind blowing through the trees.  All these natural occurrences can aid you in relieving your stress.

Make some time for some mindful listening, go to the nearest window, open it, and listen to whatever sound comes through. It doesn’t matter if you’re in the middle of a busy city or a secluded forest. I am sure that there is something you can listen too, that will bring you into the present moment, remind you to be grateful and provide you with some stress relieve of everyday life.

Write a Poem to Release Tension and Stress

Do not consider yourself a poet? Let someone else take care of the words by retrieving your documents from old books, magazines, newspapers, or even letters. Cut out the words that jump to you or inspire you. Paste your found materials as a visual collage. You can have a topic or story in mind at first, or just start and see where your word collage is leading you.

Play a Board or Card Game

In the world filled with technology, mobile phones, computers etc., we sometimes forget the simple things like playing cards or a board game. My father who is 93 years old plays dominoes almost every day and finds it relaxing and stress free.

I have to say that nothing beats stress better than a fun friendly board or card game. There are so many to choose from, but the one’s that I have at home, include the old favorites like Trouble Battleship, or Scrabble.  These games are not just for kids they are also great stress relief activities for adults.

If you are interested in purchasing these games and like to support this website please click on the amazon links above to make your purchase (Thank you!)

You also can play a relaxing card game like Rummy 500 or Spades. Sometimes it is simple games like these that not only relieve stress, but bring a family together for an evening of fun and laughter.  As you know laughter is the best medicine to relieve all kinds of aliments particularly stress. So go ahead and have some good old fun!

Create your Own Home Garden

Home Gardening can be really rewarding, and one of the benefits of  creating a home garden is that it’s an excellent way to relieve stress. The fact that you will be raking, digging, weeding is a physical way to release tension. Not to mention, it is a beneficial exercise for both mind and body.  It is also a great source of vitamin D that you get from the sun.

In addition, as you connect with nature you are becoming in-tune with what is around you, it is a time to reflect and begin to appreciate the natural beauty of life.  When you are planting in your garden, it provides a therapeutic effect by helping you to slow down and enjoy the outdoors. This can help reduce your stress caused by a fast pace and daily hectic lifestyle.

If you are interested in creating a home garden to reduce stress here is an article that can help you to do that in a stress-free way.  Please also read : Home Gardening For Stress Relief

A Word from Holistic Calmness

Finding the best stress relief technique may take some experimenting, but it is important to keep looking for a strategy that will help relieve the stress in your life in a productive way. Keeping stress at a manageable level is important for your mental, physical, and spiritual well-being.

Keep in mind that stress is 20% of what happens and 80% of how you respond to it. Try to regain some control of stress by finding out what is causing you stress, and by paying attention to signals that your body is giving you when you are stressed out. By identifying these factors, you will be in tune with your mind and body and be ready to combat stress by taking some action. You can then incorporate some of these fun stress relieving activities and use a creative solution to bring about calmness and stress relief.

So, what do you think about our 10 fun activities for stress relief?  Have you ever tried any of them? Did they help? Share your experience by leaving a comment below!