Stress Relief/Hobbies of Those In The Profession

[pandersen]

Hello all, just out of curiousity, what do others out there do to relieve stress. I'm not talking about seeing a therapist either! Surely I'm not the only planner out there with a hobby.

Sure I know that more than a few of you out there probably spend a small portion of your day repeatedly slamming your hand in a desk drawer in order to distract yourselves from the throbing headache which undoubtedly begins the moment you are forced to defend a planning recommendation, but that simply doesn't count.

For me, woodworking (cabinetmaking),metal fabrication and semi-creative writing (pissing and moaning) provide a healthy creative outlet for the frustrations that develop at work. Let's hear about what others are doing to maintain their creative juices (better than letting the pot boil dry).

By the way, just in case qnyone is curious, the name I post messages under is just me having a little bit of fun - no, really!!!!

[Planzilla]

What an interesting question!

Personally, I do of lot of gardening and carpentry. (The gardening gives me a feeling of accomplishment that is hard to find at work, and the carpentry lets me hit things with a big hammer.)

I also like to hike and hunt, but that has nothing to do with work. I will, I hope, still be hiking and looking for turkeys even when I am unemployed (which could happen any day.)

[Eric Alexander]

I like to restore old tube radios. It somehow provides me with a link to our past which I like, and its fairly mindless work (though you have to be careful -- electricity kills, you know) once you have it figured out. As a bonus, on occasion I inadvertently short a couple live wires with a finger, and the "pick-me-up" the ensuing jolt gives me lasts for days. WOW! A nice refreshing reminder to pay a little bit of attention, anyway.

I also like to walk/hike and sometimes set my hair on fire and try to put it out with a hammer.

BTW, I normally am not as unsafe as this posting may make me sound.

[pandersen]

Thanks to the two!!! of you who have replied so far. Great to hear from others in the field about what they do in their sparetime (ha, ha) to maintain a grip on reality. From the responses so far, it seems that many professionals out there are involved in a lotof "hair pulling" and use of "tools" to help give them a sense of accomplishment thatthey may be lacking at work!

Lets hear from more of you frustrated planners out there in cyberspace!!!!

[Cosmic]

Personally I like whitewater canoeing. Complete removal from the urban environment and placing myself in an immediate life threatening situation barely provides the distraction necessary to cleanse the pressures of the job from my mind. I like gardening too. I give the weeds the names of particularity troublesome people just before I pull them and leave them lying on the ground to die slowly. Great stress release. !

[Another stress case]

Complete removal from the environment appears to be a theme. Although I'm not satisfied with a simple trip to nature. I leave not only place, but also time. My primary hobbies involved acting at rennesance faires and involvement with science fiction/fantasy (reading, gaming, coventions, etc).

I also enjoy weeding. I'd not considered giving them names. A delightful idea I must put into effect immediately.

[Colleen Clare-MacDonald]

Stress relief...yes. Such an important aspect of this job.

Personally, I'm a firm believer that you shouldn't take your work home with you at the end of the day. But I know it's hard not to. Does anyone else dream of zoning?? So I end up most times bitching to whomever will listen until I feel I've gotten it out of my system. Sometimes it takes a little longer than I thought. But most times, it works pretty good. Luckily, I have a lot of friends who are planners and who can relate to my stress. They've all been there before! Just knowing that you're not the only one makes things a little more bearable. You end up laughing about things rather than obsessing on them.

To keep myself sane, I try and keep a good attitude, not get too cranky and serious about things. After all, it's just life, and none of us make it out alive!

Colleen

[Colleen Clare-MacDonald]

Originally posted by ( Colleen Clare-MacDonald)
Does anyone else dream of zoning??
Colleen

Yes! And I thought I was the only one. Maybe we are even sharing the same dreams--were you the beautiful woman who was trying to stop Walmart from paving Minnesota?[/quote[

Hmmmm...sounds like the plot for a movie!

Beautiful woman? Sure, yeah, that's me! hee heee!

Ahhhhh...and I so needed a good laugh today! Thanx!

C.

[Cosmic]

Hunting turkeys has nothing to do with work? I don't know. Sounds pretty Freudian to me. Do the turkeys you hunt resemble turkeys at work?

[smarty]

Well, I was under the impression that slamming my head in the drawer WAS my hobby. Actually, I try and hit Margaritaville about three times a day. I have my CD player with a stack of Jimmy Buffett, Bob Marley and Peter Tosh CD's, a picture of my dog, my wife picked me up a parrot beanie baby for my computer and think about the time I'll spend either on my mountain bike or my snowboard. Now some of that time is taken up my house.

I hate days when I can't shake some irritating builder/developer, so I try and use my music and dreams of Fijian beauties serving me rum drinks to ward off the evils of public servitude.

That's what I do anyway.