How To Deal With Mental Stress

As I type this, it's obscenely early on a Tuesday morning and yet I feel so alive. I woke up at 2:30 a.m. having had only a few hours of sleep and yet I feel refreshed and happy. This time last week I didn't feel the same, so what happened? I got away. Simple as that.

Get our free mobile app

I didn't go anywhere crazy or do anything remarkable, but I got away and it was everything that I needed and then some. My family went to a place where we could smell the freshly fertilized fields, hear cows mooing and sheep bleating, and where we could run and play catch and picnic in a field without bumping into another soul.

Sure, we could do, hear, and smell all of those same things at home because we live in a rural area surrounded by woods and farm fields, but to not be home, to have a change of scenery was exactly what I, what we, needed.

Maybe you're like me and have a tendency to get yourself all wound up over trivial things like keeping up with the dishes and laundry or replying to every work email, even the ones that don't need to be replied to. In some respects, we've done this to ourselves. We've become the dependable and trusty ones which is an admirable trait, but when we don't allow ourselves to say no because we worry too much about letting others down, the ones we're really letting down is ourselves because we constantly put the happiness of others before our own happiness and that can lead to resentment.

Getting away for just a small amount of time changed my perspective on things. It put a spring in my step and suddenly, life doesn't feel so heavy. I feel refreshed and happy and those around me have noticed the shift in my entire mood.

If you've been feeling suffocated by life and shoved under by doom and gloom, I can't recommend enough doing what we did - find the very cheapest motel that you can in the middle of nowhere (it has to be at least an hour from home for it to not feel like you're still at home) and relax. Make no plans. Just go and let go. Oh, and turn off your phone!

LOOK: The most famous actress born the same year as you

Many of the actresses in this story not only made a name for themselves through their collection of iconic performances, but also through the selfless, philanthropic nature with which many of them approached their stardom. In an age of flipping the script on societal norms, many of these actresses are using their voices and platforms to be advocates for those who are otherwise unheard.