... and relax

Distress or de-stress? Here is a quick pointer to some of my psychological de-tox programs.

Hiking – as described in my other blog http://ian-folly.blogspot.com/. It is always wonderful to just walk through the bush with the wind in your hair and the rain soaking through your clothes. My wife doesn’t like camping but I love waking up in a small tent miles from anywhere; preferably miles from others as well.

Music – My guitar is one of my favourite companions. I started as a teenager and have never stopped. Sadly I can’t sing – well, not in tune anyway – but I’m learning to not let that get in the way. Every Tuesday night I will be strumming my guitar or mandolin or ukulele (damn ukes are breeding like rabbits these days) with few like-minded folk – and singing, accidently hitting the right note from time to time. There is a saying that you should sing like no-one is listening, so I do.  Not being able to sing led me to instrumental guitar music and I like to strum and pick and compose. Here is a sample of a short piece I wrote some years ago now but still like to play.

Photography – Back in year nine at high school we were entrusted with a Pentax SLR and a role of black and white film. The proviso was that we try to do something a bit different. We were then allowed to roam the school and the nearby streets.  Maybe not the streets, but we did anyway, small gangs of local youth armed with cameras. We experimented with the cameras and in the dark room, trying various effects. I have loved it ever since

Here is a link to a YouTube clip of a hike – photos and music by me. I took over a hundred photos on that hike but there are only two or three that I find really worthwhile, the rest filler for the clip, others now sitting on a hard disk but deserving nothing more than deletion.

It is vital to detox your brain from the stresses that we face.  Forget who is listening or watching or what they are thinking. If they have a problem, well, it is their problem, not yours.