How to Relieve Your Stress Right Now

Goofy stuff and more serious stuff, too.

Sometimes after shows I hang out with TikTok star bird puppets. This is Chad.

It is nearly 80 degrees and very sunny here in Chicago, with the winds whipping up the fallen leaves and, oddly, plenty of autumnal bathing creatures lounging in swim attire on the beaches of Lake Michigan. Some of them are probably naked, because this is a city built on chaos. Good for them!

I am indoors in a purple Stevie Nicks T-shirt and forgiving jeans, running the air conditioning unit, though I did take a nice long walk earlier today after a routine trip to the doctor’s office. I even bought myself brunch at the cash-only lesbian diner, which is a specific and important form of self-care one week before a national election (don’t worry, I won’t talk about that thing again in this issue - you’re getting slammed with more than enough info about it elsewhere.)

This is the third of four SARATONIN issues that free subscribers will receive this month. Paid subscribers, you money angels, you’ll get two EXCLUSIVE issues before the end of October, too.

I wrote a post today on Patreon called “What Our Minds Can’t And Can’t Do.” I’ve had a creative diary/sandbox/playroom over at Patreon longer than I’ve published this newsletter, and I continue to find that ideas over there help inform what I want to write here and elsewhere.

This particular post was about handling an overdose of stress. I won’t get into everything I wrote there - it is, after all, a different platform with a different audience, where I get a bit more freeform and even experimental with my work. And this place, SARATONIN, is for more straightforward essays and recommendations (usually).

However, it seems timely to discuss how to deal with overwork, over-caring, over-worrying, and overdoing it. Earlier today, I was so busy trying to upload a voiceover audition while sending a half-hour single camera dark comedy script to a friend in time to make it to a 12-step meeting while also checking my work email that I knocked a wooden statue of the Buddha clean off my desk.

If that isn’t a dumb fucking obvious sign that it’s time to slow down, I don’t know what - you know what? I’m not going to finish that time-honored sentence construction. It is, simply, a dumb fucking obvious sign that it’s time to slow down.

Here are a few things you may or may not wish to try in order to help feel better. I’ve already mentioned that I go to 12-step meetings; they work for me but do not work for some folks, and I am not recommending them to you. I’m just saying I go to them.

Here are some things I feel comfortable recommending for the purpose of helping your mind, body, and spirit to feel more aligned and more peaceful.

• Go see (or perform) bizarre, fun live comedy. The photo above is from Saturday, when I did The Paper Machete at the Green Mill for the fifth or sixth time. As always, I loved it.

• Try talk therapy

• Try somatic healing therapy

• Attend a sound bath

• Take a long walk

• Get some fresh air

• Go see live music in a venue of any size. I am going to see Taylor Alison Swift soon, and I am told it is a wild extravaganza of cathartic emotional spectacle and glory. However, I’ve also had stress-relieving, healing experiences watching somebody amazing on an acoustic guitar in a wee little coffee shop.

• Become benevolently focused on some form of sport

• Watch soap-cutting videos on YouTube

• Watch glassblowing videos on YouTube

• Read Free Will Astrology and don’t take it too seriously (he doesn’t!)

• Go to a lake, river, ocean, or some other significant and beautiful body of water

• Take a bath

• Make whatever soup feels comforting (or order it)

• Forgive yourself for not keeping a tidy home

• Tidy the shit out of your home (hey, your mileage may vary!)

• Listen to really stupid pop music really, really loud

• Watch great moments in sports that make you cry

• Read a self-help book that you know is going to be stupid, and then make fun of it

• Read a self-help book that you know is going to be stupid, and then find one thing about it to not hate

• Learn about local cryptids. Chicago is, for some reason, obsessed with a creature called Mothman. My boyfriend says Mothman is most famous for appearing in West Virginia before a bridge collapse. I refuse to look this up. But I do love the Jersey Devil. What weirdo legend does your region celebrate? Go find out.

• Take a road trip and let the rhythm of the road help you out

• Take a train trip and let the rhythm of the train help you out

• Drink some water

• Drink some more water

• Stretch

• Do yoga, if you want to get elaborate about the stretching

• Read a ridiculous novel

Please take what you like and leave the rest behind. Not all of this is for everyone.

Thanks for the kind birthday wishes last week. The day itself sucked in a lot of ways because I was so overwhelmed by stress and burnout, but your sweet messages were a balm, as were the new subscriptions. The kindness of my loved ones was also amazing. And it got better.

I tend to love birthdays (mine and those of other people) but not every single one has to be great. It’s okay to cry on your birthday and on any holiday and any day, really. And I have so much to be grateful for, including you reading this very issue of SARATONIN.

Be well if you can be, and if not, just be. All things pass in time. I appreciate you.

Love,

Sara

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