De-stressing With Music and the Sounds of Nature

I live with stress every day of my life.  Not only is it a daily struggle to keep my electrolytes and blood chemistry at acceptable levels, but also I live with the knowledge that my genetic condition, Gardner’s Syndrome, could put me in the hospital, or even kill me, in an instant.  I have to consciously keep myself motivated to go to dialysis treatments every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday no matter whether I want to or not; and to top things off, I will have surgery within the month to treat a side effect of the Gardner’s Syndrome.  I choose to live positively and not dwell on the negatives, but sometimes stress can affect my mood, and even my health.  I employ different methods to deal with that stress as the need arises.  Sometimes I use Young Living’s Peace & Calming Essential Oil as aromatherapy to help me stop worrying and fall asleep faster.  On other occasions, I soak in the bathtub for hours while reading a mindless romance novel to clear my head of worries.  Other coping mechanisms I have cultivated over the years include writing; cuddling with Kasey Kay or Chet, my Himalayan who died in June, while telling them about my troubles; cross-stitching and needle pointing; and, most recently, knitting.

I planned to write this paper on my writing, specifically about my blog titled Crossed Purposes.  Unfortunately, my health took a nose-dive two weeks ago when I became severely dehydrated.  I was too tired to stay up to write blog posts and started stressing about not writing.  I managed to write three posts before I started to wear down.  All the other stories have remained works in my head because I went to sleep so early.  I will get back to my writing, but I cannot allow myself to have so much stress when many other things are going on in my life.

Since the writing project has fallen through, I was able to find a de-stressing mechanism in my own apartment.  For years, I have picked up compact discs of classical music at thrift stores and yard sales; however, I never listen to them.  I love silence, so many are the nights when I sit at home reading, knitting, or doing other tasks without any background noise at all.  I do not listen to the television unless I am actually watching it, and I never turn on the radio.  I did not even connect my stereo when I moved in; it is still on the top shelf of my bedroom closet.  Instead of sitting in silence, I have started listening to the CDs on my laptop; turning on the Classical Masterpieces Music Choice channel, channel 440 on Comcast; and listening to Classical WETA 90.9FM on the radio in my truck.  I find talking of any kind a distraction when I try to concentrate on reading, homework, or knitting, so the classical music with no words is perfect.My favorite composers are Tchaikovsky, Handel, Chopin, Haydn, Schumann, and Rachmaninoff, to name a few.

In addition, I have collected CDs of nature sounds such as thunderstorms, running streams, waves striking the shores of a lake, loons, wolves, night time "peepers," and more, all accompanied by light music. Some are accompanied by flute, some piano, and some guitar or other instruments.  I find these especially relaxing when I lie down at night to go to sleep.  I loaded some nature sounds CDs onto my iPod years ago but have not even used the iPod for over two years.  My alarm clock is an iHome radio, which allows an iPod to play through its speakers, so I found the iPod and used the Sleep feature on the iHome to play nature sounds as I drifted off to sleep these past couple weeks.  With the addition of a sleep mask, I began sleeping later and getting more restorative sleep.  I would hate to think how stressed and tired I would be without the help of classical music, sounds of nature recordings, and the sleep mask.

Since I started listening to classical music and the Ssounds of nature, I have noticed that I am in a better mood. Even when I have a million things to do in a day, I do not feel the pressure I used to feel to complete everything. The music calms me and makes me a happier person. The most noticeable difference is when I am driving; instead of yelling obscenities at the driver who cut me off, I usually ignore him and go along on my merry way. When my sister and her kids were visiting last weekend, we put the Sounds of Nature on after the kids fell asleep and even Sarah commented on how calming it was. She was surprised that we could turn the radio up so loud without waking Caleb and Anna. Friday night while we were talking on the telephone, Sarah set up a Pandora Radio station on her iPod so that she can also listen to classical music at home, since she does not get the Music Choice channels on her television. Because I enjoy it much, listening to classical music and nature sounds is something I will definitely continue to do, even after the Women’s Health Issues course is complete.