#de-stress

[yourmentalhealthpal]

Feeling overwhelmed? 😩 Take a deep breath and try these 30 simple ways to de-stress and recharge! 🌿✨ Your mind deserves a break. 💙

[bpd-swiftie]

Box Breathing

This breathing exercise is great for de-stressing and grounding yourself for meditation.

To start, get into a comfortable seated position, straighten your spine, keep your hands relaxed by your sides or on your lap, and legs relaxed with your feet on the ground.

Inhale deeply, counting 4 beats.

Continue by holding that breath and counting another 4 beats.

Exhale slowly for another 4 beats.

Hold for another 4 beats.

Repeat 3 or 4 times.

*For help pacing, you can use a 60 bpm metronome, which can be found on any music streaming platform or Youtube.

*DBT guides here*

[curatoroffiction]

The Gift

I wanted to write a cute little fic for a piece/series @beels-burger-babe has just shared with the world, because it was really cute, but also as a little gift to her during this time of stress. This piece is meant to be read after her piece, “Take A Deep Breath” which I’m linking here. Note to Beels-Burger-Babe; I hope that whatever stress you’re dealing with, you can tackle it with increasing ease! Thank you for gifting us with your wonderful writing!

Warnings:

- This is not a standalone fic, it’s only to be read after reading @beels-burger-babe‘s “Take A Deep Breath” - Gender-Neutral MC - I didn’t proofread because I’m a sinner <-- I proofread late and suffered for it. XD I fixed the formatting errors

----- Mammon thought he saw Lucifer heading this way. If he could just find- Wait, was that the sound of your voice? You sound, stressed. Upset. Most importantly, you sound like you’re at the end of your rope with nowhere to go. He listens at your door, realizing that you’re talking to someone. It’s Lucifer. He can hear the gentle ways the demon coos and softly soothes you, and he can hear you talking about how something is ‘too much’ and how you’re ‘too burnt out’. He tries to get closer to listen, only- A hand on his shoulder. He practically yelps and jumps out of his skin as he turns to see an annoyed Belphegor. “How are you not the creepiest guy they know?” “Hey, shut it- I’m tryin’a hear why they’re so stressed. I think it’s a person. They’re fallin’ apart an’ Lucifer’s in there consolin’ them.” Belphegor blinks, surprised. You were stressed? You always held yourself together so well, it was easy to forget that you had problems from time to time. He puts his ear to the door, Mammon following suit and they can hear you starting to scream about the stressors in your life. How you’re constantly taking care of the people around you and how you’re just sick of it! You’re just sick of having so much on your plate! Belphegor swallows, stepping back. “... We should do something nice for them.” “Yeah, I’m with ya’. But what?” Asmodeus enters the hall, looking to the two of them inquisitively. They both see him and shoot him a silent ‘stay quiet’ signal. Asmodeus comes up whispering “Why’re we staying quiet?” Which is when he hears you break out into tears in your room, followed by Lucifer’s voice gently soothing you. He blinks, and then glares at Mammon as he whispers “What did you do?!” “I didn’t do nothin’!!” Mammon whispers back in a hushed panic. Belphegor furrows his brow in thought. He adds in a whisper; “Actually, I found him here first, it’d make sense if this was his fault.” “Nah, I was just lookin’ for Lucifer! I wasn’t causin’ ___ any trouble! I swear! An’ for all we know, it coulda been either of you two!” Belphegor and Asmodeus both scowl at him. Neither of them really see themselves as the kind of people to cause you problems. Mammon explains; “I mean, Belphie, yer great n’ all, but you’re always makin’ ___ take naps with ya’. They missed some kinda important meeting the other day because of you! And Asmodeus, you’re always makin’ ___ do photoshoots with ya’! An’ y’don’t take ‘no’ for an answer! I’m pretty sure they got so swept up in your thing, they couldn’t finish that assignment fer class!” “Now that I think about it.. They’ve been struggling a lot lately, huh.” Belphegor ignores Mammon’s attempts to shove the blame off on him. Asmodeus looks sympathetic as he thinks about how hard everything’s been on you. He too doesn’t take on the blame, but he is sympathetic towards you for having to shoulder all that stress. “I still think it’s your fault, Mammon.” “It could be anyone’s fault!” He exasperatedly whisper-yells, only to catch the attention of Beelzebub as he’s walking past the hall. Beelzebub turns into the hallway when he hears the commotion and comes to rest his head on Belphegor’s shoulder. Belphegor gently strokes his twin’s head. “Well it couldn’t be Beel’s fault.” Mammon shrugs. “I dunno, he did eat ___’s leftovers last week. They’d been looking forward to those leftovers.” Beelzebub, who only came over because he wanted to rest against his twin, feeling Belphegor’s exhaustion rising, raises his head to glare at Mammon. “I apologized to them and got them brand new replacement food. What’s happening here?” He hears you start crying again inside your room and his eyes widen. “... Is ___ okay?” Mammon, Belphegor and Asmodeus all shake their heads solemnly, earning a concerned Beelzebub’s sad expression. “If it’s about the food, I understand... I can apologize again..” “Beel, you’re fine. We’re pretty sure Mammon bugged them and is just trying to shove blame on someone else.” Belphegor won’t let Beelzebub shoulder the blame for this for even a second. Beelzebub’s expression relaxes as he nods. “That sounds like something he’d do.” Mammon, having to stop himself before he yells, has to consciously return to a whisper as he loudly exclaims “I didn’t do this!! I came over here because I was lookin’ fer Lucifer, an’ they were already fallin’ apart!” “Why were you looking for Lucifer?” Beelzebub stares to Mammon. “I was gonna ask him about this.” Mammon produces a magazine, grinning big as he points to the jacket in it. “It’s limited edition an’ I’ve been workin’ hard recently-” He’s cut off by the sound of you shouting “I’m just at the end of my rope! I can’t handle this anymore! I can’t do this anymore! I was never equipped to be here! I wasn’t equipped to do this!” followed by a loud screaming shout, and Lucifer supposedly tugging you into a hug, as your sounds become more muffled and they can hear Lucifer giving you a pep-talk. Beelzebub looks to Asmodeus with concern in his eyes. Are you going to be okay? None of them notice Satan as he steps up to the group. “What’s happening here? Why’s everyone in front of ___’s room?” Mammon almost jumps again and then they all quickly hush Satan, telling him to be quiet. Satan can feel something ebbing from your room. Anger. Frustration. The overwhelming flood of stress. As someone who is well-versed in keeping his emotions in check, and what it feels like to crack, he’s well-aware of what’s happening here. And he immediately scowls at Mammon, whispering; “What’d you do?” Mammon shout-whispers; “WHY DOES EVERYONE THINK I DID SOMETHIN’!?” throwing his arms up into the air. “Just seems like the logical leap. You’re not running in there to boisterously insert yourself like you usually are, so either you don’t know why they’re upset and you’re worried you could have caused it, or you caused it.” “.......” Mammon pensively looks to the ground. “... Look, none of us know why ___’s stressed. It could be any one of us.” “Except Beel.” Belphegor inserts. “And me and Belphie.” Asmodeus adds. “I dunno..” Beelzebub stands up proper as he thinks on it. “They’ve been stressed for a while now, and none of us stopped it.” This gives everyone pause. Even if they didn’t outright cause it, they didn’t exactly jump in to save you from it either. The only person currently doing that is Lucifer, and he’s helping you at your breaking point. This causes a stunned silence amongst the group. A silence that is broken only when a certain anime-obsessed gentleman comes hobbling out of the kitchen with bags of chips in his arms. Leviathan stares at the group and then turns away going “Nah I don’t wanna get involved” “Too late, yer in this with the rest of us!” Mammon whisper-shouts as he runs to stop Leviathan from getting away. “___’s stressed out, and we’re all feeling guilty about it.” “Good, you guys are exhausting.” “You’re exhausting too y’know” “How could I be exhausting? It’s not like I’m constantly taking them out shopping or making them do photoshoots or roping them into schemes or making them late for stuff or eating their food, or-” “You made them stay up late to watch a movie with you and they didn’t sleep all that great the other night!” “But they HAD to, that was the third movie in the trilogy we were watching- It’s sacrilege to watch only the first two and not the third!!” Satan interjects; “The point isn’t who stressed them out, the point is how we can help now that they’re stressed.” which earns the collective nods of the other three brothers as Mammon is still keeping Leviathan from fleeing the scene. “... Why?” “Because they’re stressed and we didn’t help.” “... They were stressed?” Leviathan blinks, cocking his head to the side. “Yeah, they have been for over a week.” He freezes up as you start shouting angrily about yourself and your problems, feeling his nerves spike as he wonders if you picked up that habit from him. You’re his friend, and yet he didn’t realize you were struggling so much.. The brothers stand in silence, all wondering what to do. “.. We should get them gifts.” Asmodeus finally says. “Like, nice things to make them feel better, that they can use to relax.” “And food. And drinks. They’re gonna be hungry and thirsty after all that crying.” Beelzebub adds. “And we should give them some space so they can do their work and rest.” Belphegor scowls at Mammon. Mammon ignores the scowl and pats Leviathan’s shoulder. “We should get them other gifts too! I always feel better when someone gets me something nice.” Leviathan shrugs off his brother’s hand. “It should be something they want, which they’ve been wanting for a while.” Satan muses; “And we should get them something that could help them in their current stress. Does anyone know why they’re stressed?” Stunned silence. “I’ll text Lucifer for answers.” Asmodeus chips in. “Meet back here in an hour?” Everyone nods affirmatively. --- Lucifer feels his pocket buzzing. He ignores it for you, putting all of his attention on you. He’s been working to help you come down from the breaking point, telling you how proud he is of you, and helping you figure out a plan for going forward. But his D.D.D just keeps on buzzing. And you begin to notice. He sighs. “One moment.” And he opens his D.D.D to see the brother text chain blowing up. He’s about to mute it for the time being when he notices it’s his brothers repeatedly asking what’s going on with you. Which makes sense, he could hear them outside the door moments prior. He shakes his head and texts them. Lucifer: [___’s stressed about having too much work on their plate. I’m helping them break it up so they can get it done efficiently and on time. Please do not bother them with some big gesture. They don’t need to be flooded with company right now. Anyone who bothers ___ over the next week will have to answer to me. We’ll be taking dinner late tonight.] And with that, he closes his D.D.D, putting it on silent mode so he can focus entirely on you. --- Some time later, Lucifer stands up. “Alright. I think we’ve gotten this figured out. And you have me, if you need someone to help you. Please don’t hesitate to reach out. I’m going to get you some dinner, since that was about ten minutes ago. Tonight, I think you should just rest. We’ve got the time to tackle everything, so be kind to yourself.” He opens the door and a small pile of gifts flood into the room. He blinks, dipping down to pick something up. “...?” You notice the flood of gifts and get up, walking over. “What is it?” “.. I think it’s my brothers’ attempt to help you.” You pick up something from the pile. It’s a piece of fandom merch you’ve been eyeing for a while. You know Leviathan is the only person who knew that. Another item is a book you didn’t even know existed, but is exactly the kind of thing you love. Spa stuff. Comfort items like pillows and plushies. All of your favorite snacks and drinks, and lots of them. Expensive goods that are meant for comfort and relaxation. Even a massage gadget for your back. In the hall, sitting on two raised trays, are what appears to be food under food coverings. You and Lucifer go to inspect them and find that they’ve been put on warming plates, so they’ll stay warm. Your drinks in cooling glasses. There’s a little note on a gorgeous colored stationary; In black ink the note starts; [We didn’t know what to do or get you, but we wanted to help you feel better from all the stress you’ve been having.] There’s an arrow pointing at this, with a scribble in gold writing; [Sorry if we caused it!] The note continues, written in red; [We got you food and drinks, your favorites, and some really good ones I know you’d like. If you want more, let me know. I’ll make sure you always have food and drinks. - Beel] In green, the note adds; [I made sure to get you some books I knew you’d like, to add to your collection and give you something to escape into. Leviathan helped on the fandom ones. I also got you a really good planner to help with figuring out your schedule for tackling the problems you’re dealing with, and I’m available if you need help with the paperwork. - Satan] The note now continues in pink; [I wanted to make sure your stress didn’t take its toll on you, so I brought you lots of de-stressing items! Fidget toys and spa stuff, in all the colors and scents and textures that I know you like. May they bring you lots of pleasure! - Asmo 💖] In orange, the note turns into kind of a scribbled mess, but it’s legible enough; [I made sure you got lots of hobby stuff I know you’ve been looking at. Lots of limited edition stuff that I know you really wanted, but would’ve taken your focus to get. That way you don’t have to stress about trying to get it yourself! You can just focus on work, and you won’t miss out on any of the things you love. We didn’t get you games because we know you have to focus, but we can get you games when you’ve finished all your work!! And if something comes up for your hobbies, tell me! I’ll make sure you get it! - Levi] In purple, the note reads; [If you’d like, I can help you with sleep. I’m good at bringing people good dreams, and helping them sleep better. I got you new pillows. If it’s too many, just toss them in a pile and make a fort out of them. Don’t work too hard. Remember to take breaks. If Lucifer gives you shit, I’ll fight him personally for you. Even if some work doesn’t get done, you’re doing fine. - Belphegor] And in gold, the note adds; [Look, I don’t know what’s buggin’ you but we’re all here for you. Rely on us, okay? And if we’re buggin’ you, tell us! We can take it! Don’t just rely on Lucifer! We wanna help you too! Because we love you! But it’s not-] The note cuts off from there as there was a visible struggle of golden squiggling as Mammon’s section got cut off, followed by a multi-color of callout comments from his brothers roasting him. It finishes in black ink, much like it started; [We’re here for you, we love you, you don’t have to be afraid to ask for help or to lean on us. You’re amazing, and we’re proud of you. And also we’re sorry if we caused this in any way.] There’s an added note in purple ink; [If Mammon caused it, let us know - We have a betting pool against him that says he caused it.] Lucifer almost laughs as you both read the note. He lifts the food covers to find that they even switched their food plans for the evening to make your favorite dinner, and he smiles warmly. His brothers did pull through for you. “It looks like you’ve got lots to comfort you. Rest easy, ___. You’re doing well. Tomorrow is a new day.”

[nicistrying]

Apologies I've been MIA all over the holidays, there's been a lot going on and I'm working a lot too. But I managed to squeeze in a little stretch this morning which felt wonderful after all the stress that had been building up. Maggie helped of course 😉

Lovely @idratherberunning49 tagged me for a flex - I have absolutely zero time to work out lately which sucks but my flex is that I sat down for a full hour and a half yesterday and got my nails done. Made a conscious effort to breathe deeper and slower and felt much better. Got to look after myself in the little ways while I'm trying to be there for the people around me!

Wishing everyone a wonderful New Year!! 🥰🥰

[timefortrees]

Nothing like a morning walk on a day off to calm the mind and to really switch off from work………… kinda, when trees are work it’s a little difficult but sitting, looking and not assessing or inspecting was a welcome change :) 

[iceafterdeath]

In case you wonder how I de-stress

[source]

[thehumming6ird]

SoYouWantToTalkAbout on Instragram: This election has almost 70% of U.S. adults stressed out. I worked with @thisisyolandarenteria to put together some de-stressing techniques to help you get through the next few days of election chaos!

I think EVERYONE could do with these right now <3

[thesweettooth]

Our first coloring page is now available. 

Get it FREE here!