The other evening, our home was on the brink of exploding. The pressure had been building since the morning.
My youngest woke-up a bear and was grumpy because I forgot to buy his favorite cereal and started pleading with me to go get him more cereal right at that moment. No! I was not going to go to the store right then to buy more.
My oldest came stomping into my make-shift office, declaring how unfair it was that he had to clean the bathroom. Really? I had just spent the last hour doing dishes, sweeping, and picking up random crap all over the house and all he needed to do was clean one bathroom.
Every simple request regarding schoolwork was met with resistances or outright defiance. “NO! I will not do my math!” “What! I have to do reading? I read yesterday!!”
And in the middle of this I was also supposedly working, seeing clients and attempting to be present to their needs at the same time.
Every little thing increased the pressure and I could feel myself getting ready to explode.
The thing with pressure is that it will keep building unless it’s released.
Release can either be an explosion of yelling, tears, slamming doors, and broken connection in my relationships or a controlled redirection of the energy.
One of my favorite ways to redirect the energy is to just STOP and do something different.
Below are some of my favorite ways to redirect the pressure before it becomes destructive.
Music.
Turning on my favorite Spotify playlist and letting my body move to the music. Sometimes its just me moving to the music. Sometimes it turns into a family dance party. But the music and movement allows the energy to release from the body, gets the happy hormones flowing in the body, and puts a smile on my face.
Create.
Creativity is not about creating some Pinterest worthy project. Creativity helps us get outside the box and shifts our perspective. Sure you can draw or paint but cooking, gardening, writing, dig a hole, sidewalk chalk are great creative outlets as well.
Play.
Everyone, not just kids, need to play. Play not only is fun but it strengthens our attachment with each other. Pick something that makes you laugh or at least puts a smile on your face. It doesn’t have to be for a long time. You can set a timer for 10 minutes and play a board game, build Legos, do a puzzle, throw the Frisbee.