Are you online too much? The "I kinda wanna not be online as much but not really.." version!

Hello hello hello!
After 3 long weeks, my computer is running and sounds better than ever! I guess I should have known the fan was going out considering how loud it was... Maybe I'm a little oblivious.
Anyway!
When it first broke down... I freaked out a little bit. Refer to my last post if you wanna see how bad! It wasn't exactly my best moment.
So I did the math.
Every day, I'm on the computer at work for roughly 8 hours.
Then, I come home and get back on. Then I go to my friends, but when I return, I'm back on. Plus, I'm on my phone constantly. In general, I'm spending at very least 10 hours a day on a computer. Yikes.
I didn't realize it was a problem until I didn't have my computer.
I still was on for about 8 hours every day for work, but I can't avoid that (Trust me, I would if I could...)
But I had SO much free time.
And that's when I began to notice other parts of my life going much... smoother...
~I got so much more sleep.~
~I spent more time with my family.~
~I actually cleaned my room.~
~My eyes stopped hurting as much all the time.~
~I did the dishes on time.~
~I did my laundry.~
~I helped with dinner.~
~I could concentrate better.~
~My imagination/creativity thrived.~
You get the point.
I got my computer back yesterday. When I didn't have any friends to hangout with after work, I went right back to doing my same old thing. Spent way too long on the computer again.. And then I realized how boring it is.
I mean, all I'm really doing is sitting in the same room for a few hours pressing refresh every few minutes to see updates.
I'm so much happier without the computer having as much influence in my life!
So I'm here to propose an idea.
I've read alottt of bloggers talk about technology fasts. I've never actually done a real one. And who knows if I ever will. But here's the "I kinda wanna not be online as much but not really" version.


~Pick a day. Or a week. Or a month(!!!) Pick one, and stick to it. Make sure it's not a day or week or month that you absolutely need to be online a lot. Maybe start out with a day that you know you're gonna be busy doing other things anyway in the first place. 
~Figure out how many hours on average you usually spend online every day. Subtract that by 2. Now, don't count hours needed for work. If you work a job like mine and HAVE to be online, don't cut that in half. I;m talking recreational use. 
~For example! Today, after work, I spent 4 hours online. I would cut that in to 2, and spend only that amount online during my day. 
~Find something else to do. Read a book. Go outside. Watch tv. Talk to your family. Whatever! Just get offline for a few more hours than normal! 
~If you want to cut your time more than that, of course feel free to do so. 
~Do this multiple times. Maybe do this once a week, and every week cut down a little more. So after a few weeks, you'll be down to no internet for one day every week! 


Seriously guys, it's so relaxing to not feel like you need to be on. When I'm online, I procrastinate everythingggg. (like cleaning my room for an entire year... shh...) And of course procrastination doesn't ever feel good. It just gives  you that nagging worried feeling until you stop procrastinating. So if you want to feel good, get offline and do the things you've been putting off like the dishes or crafts or cleaning your car (I still didn't do that though...) 


Anyway! Try it out and let me know how it goes!  

Broken Computers

I've stolen the family computer for an hour so I can watch some How I Met Your Mother and write this post.
I spent my weekend watching Blacula and a LOT of The 10th Kingdom and redecorating my room. Yesterday, I finished my show and then tried to get on here to write a post and my computer screen slowly faded black. I freaked out a little bit, and shut it off. When I went to go start it back up, a warning came up that said my fan is going bad and I no longer will be allowed to boot up my computer till it's fixed. Which is rather annoying.
I started to panic.
Is it ridiculous to say my life is on that computer? Probably.
But it's true!
ALL of my book that I'm working on and my short stories are on that computer and no where else. You'd think I would learn to purchase something to back them up with.
Almost all of my pictures on are there too. Anything I haven't backed up on facebook or blogger already, that is.
So, needless to say I'm a little... Uh... stressed.
And I can't even take it in to be fixed till tomorrow since it's a holiday.
ANYWAY.
The point is to let you know that I won't be posting till I get my computer up and running, or if I can get on this computer again. Which is pretty rare because my brothers are ALWAYS on here.
In the meantime, I will be working on getting some posts together so I can get stuff up and running again when I come back.
I'll see you all soon! Leave ideas here if you have something you think I should try out!
Have a stress free week and I hope it's great!

Music of the Week!

It's been a crazy stressful week. Working 40 hour weeks? I'd rather not.
But money is money and a new car is on its way!
Here are some of the songs that got me through the week:

Try listening to Regina Spektors NEW ALBUM. It really is spectacular and I love it more and more every time I listen to it. It releases On May 29th but is being streamed here.

I hope you all have had a very beautifully, fantastic week. I've been working on a few posts for you guys so things will get up and running soon! Be on the lookout and don't forget to comment with how YOU relax. 

Learning To Dance Alone

Dancing.

Picture this:
You're home alone. Nothing is on TV, and you're pretty sure you've watched everything even remotely interesting on Netflix multiple times. (Swan Princess never gets old.)
It's been a long day at work. I mean, a really long day. 
You decide ,"Maybe I'll just go to bed."
But as you lay in your bed... You realize you're not that tired. You're fidgety and it's too warm (now it's too cold) and you just cannot! get comfortable.
What do you do?
Maybe you'll pick up a book. Maybe you'll get online. Or maybe you'll just lay there and hope you fall asleep soon.
Those aren't exactly bad options. Those could work.
But next time you're in this situation, and you know you will be, why not dance?!

We all know dancing is fun.
Or at least most of us do. If you're one of those people who absolutely hate dancing, even alone, this post is probably not for you.
But really! Dancing has so many benefits!
It's a form of exercise. And you don't even have to be good at it for that... You just gotta be really in to it. Turn off the lights, turn on the most upbeat song you know, and dance like it's the only thing you know how to do. Go crazy. Jump on the bed. Create dance moves. Sweat. Hit things on accident. Air guitar. Whatever you want.
You'll get your heart pumping and you'll burn some calories while doing it. And think of all those endorphins... mmm.
This can help with SO many things.
Endorphins kick in and tell your brain that you are happy. It can help fight depression and stress and fatigue.
But mostly stress. :)

Think about it, we spend SO much of out time doing the same thing every single day. 

We wake up and get ready and go to work. Then so many of us sit at a desk and repeat the same actions for 8 hours. Then we go home, eat, and sleep. Then repeat. 

Do you realize this means that we are letting someone else decide everything for us? 

On a normal, boring day, you really don't even need to make any choices for yourself. 

But dancing...
Dancing let's you break out of that and do everything you want. 

When you dance, everything is possible and within your reach. 

I suggest that you learn to dance alone. Whenever you get the chance. 

Close your door, turn up the music, and dance. 

Maybe even without music. 

Don't even try to be good at it.Where's the fun in being good at it?

Maybe just create an interpretive dance for your favorite song. Or your least favorite song, that could be fun :)

Dancing with someone can be fun, too, of course. But don't let that make you forget to dance alone sometimes. 

I found these pictures on these websites: 

1.       http://1000awesomethings.com/2010/04/21/522-dancing-when-youre-home-alone/

2.       http://pinkchampagneprep.blogspot.com/2010_06_01_archive.html

3.       http://8tracks.com/oconnor-c/bedroom-dancing

Much thanks to the people who took them and uploaded them for us to use! 

Stress Relief and Music!

So I'm going to start with the most basic stress relief technique I know.

Music.

See, I think we all know this works. I mean, we all love it for a reason. Honestly, have you ever met someone that is like "Oh, I hate all music"? I doubt it, but if you have, let me know! But like I was saying, we all know it works. I just think we forget, or maybe over analyze it. 

When I think "Stress Relief Music," I instantly think yoga music. The kind of music that's on those cd samples in Walmart, where you put on the head phones and can choose between "Ocean Sounds" and some weird Mexican music. So instantly when I thought "I should write about music for stress relief!" I also thought, "Ugh but who wants to buy THAT kind of music?"

So I vetoed the idea and started thinking of other ways to relieve stress that I could write about. But while I did this, I turned on some music and began to feel better about my week. 

Maybe that was just because it's finally the weekend (!!!) but I'm going to say it was completely the music. 

I then began to look up music as a stress reliever and founds TONS of different articles of how to use music as stress relief. And I was actually not surprised to find I already do so many of them! And I'm sure you probably do, too! 

So what are you probably already doing right?

Did your alarm go off this morning and play a local radio station? Or your favorite playlist on your phone? 

If so, keep that up. 

Even better: keep the music on the entire time you're getting ready! 

This can wake you up in an energizing way, and if it's music that you like, this could set the entire tone for the rest of your day, thus creating a less stress induce environment. 

Did you have music playing in the car on your way to work or school or the store this morning? 

If so, keep that up.

Having your favorite music on in the car has been proven to lower road rage by taking your mind off of the commute or that long list of things you have to get done in the day. It gives you "me" time and allows you to let go for a few moments. Then when you arrive  at your destination, your mind is much more free and capable of handling everything coming your way! 

There are many other ways to use music as a stress relief that you are probably already doing! If you want some more ideas or want to see what else you might be doing, check out this website. It's a pretty good basic indicator of what music can do! 

Did you know that any type of music can work as a stress reliever, just as long as YOU like it? 

I think we so often get caught up in the ideas of stress relief music being calm and mellow and quiet... So no wonder we don't use it as often as we probably should! That type of music may not work for you. Think about it, if you're a person that loves heavy, screamo type of music, then why on earth would calming sounds of an ocean with a harp playing be relaxing to you? Maybe it is, but it won't always be that way! If the idea of listening to music like that makes you cringe inside, then DON'T listen to it! Simple! That will not at all alleviate stress, if anything if could just make it worse. Listen to the type of music that you would on a normal day, just sitting in your room on the internet. That's the type of music your body loves, and your body will relax to it. 

However, there's something you might want to keep in mind. 

It is strongly recommended that the beat of the song be slower. 

This doesn't exactly mean quiet, but if you want to use a few songs for stress relief, it is suggested that you keep the beat slower than your At Rest Heart Rate. That way you don't run the risk of speeding up your pulse and thus not being able to relax like you might want to! 

My favorite Idea.

A music bath.

Now, seriously, how fabulous does that sound? 

It's not talking a literal bath. 

Although taking a bath with music is a pretty good way to relax as well. 

But this idea is seriously talking about a bath in music. 

The idea is to rest in a comfortable position. Laying down, sitting, fetal position, whatever. And then turning on your favorite music, and then letting it take over. 

Don't think of anything else. (Maybe turn off your phone... Just an idea!) 

And for 20 minutes, let the music wash your mind and heart and let it be the only thing you can even think of. Let go off every thought, every thing that made you stressed earlier, you can think of those things later. For these 20 minutes, it's only about the music. 

Try it out! 

I promise it's amazing.

Once a week I will be posting my favorite songs that helped me relax through the week! 

I change music quite a lot. Sometimes I need something super upbeat to relax me, and other times, like this week, I need something super slow and calm to relax me. I usually change it up though. So once a week, probably at the end of the week, Saturdays maybe, I will be posting my favorite relaxing songs for the week alone or along with another post! We will see! But look for it! Who knows, maybe you'll find something great! Or maybe you'll hate my taste in music, who knows! 

And if you have any music you think I should check out, link me to it, I'll try out anything! 

Hope you like and feel free to contact me with ideas!

Have a beautiful, stress free weekend!

A Little Introduction!

Helloooo! 

This is my precious little blog. 

Bear with me while I nurture it and help it grow to the best of it's abilities. It's just a baby right now.

My purpose... 

To give YOU a break. 

Well, maybe it's about giving me a break... 

But really, giving me a break in hopes of helping you figure out how to give yourself a break. 

The plan so far! 

I have all these beautiful little plans bouncing around in my head, and they've been there for weeks now. So a few of these plans are set in stone. 

This will be a stress relief blog.

Or maybe it would be better to call it just an "overcoming life" blog. 

Weekly, I plan on having at least one new idea on how to overcome stress. The range of these ideas will be glorious. Anything from breaking glass to meditation. I will try something new out every week and let you know how it goes and whether or not I suggest it, along with how to. 

But that's not all! 

I also plan on linking you to fabulous things I find online. 

I plan on telling you about the books and movies that I've found and LOVE. 

I plan on telling you about neat things that I'm learning. 

I plan on growing with you.

So hello!

Welcome! I love having you here! Please stay! 

This blog can only live with YOUR feedback.

Got an idea of something I should try? Send me a comment!

Need help on combating a certain stress I haven't talked about? Comment! 

Have something you'd love to share? Let me know!

This is about you! 

Because, come on. Who doesn't want to feel alive?