Let’s face it. You’re stressed. I’m stressed, he’s stressed, she’s stressed, we’re all stressed.

Stress is sadness and sadness is badness.

Here are some of the ways I deal with stress, they might work for you, they might not. You’re the one who chose to read this article.

SILENCE THOSE WHO ANNOY YOU

Some people manage to prevent any form of productivity from occurring within a 5-mile radius of them. It’s almost comical how easily stressed you can get from annoying people. A very simple way to curb this is by not feeding the beast. By that, I mean objectively not giving any form of attention to this individual. They’ll bug off, trust me. Sometimes this option is out the window because your parents trigger you. Tough luck mate, try one of the other methods instead.

Spontaneously Sing

I started doing this as a joke in my Journalism class but found out that singing is actually a really good way to forget about our impending doom. Focusing on singing is scientifically proven to reduce the amount of cortisol (a stress hormone) in your body as well as alleviating muscle tension. Of course, you’ll ideally need to be somewhere where you are actually allowed to sing. Make sure your teacher (or boss… or whoever has authority over you) is ok with it before you vocalize your mad skills.

Do Stupid Things

Laughing at myself is honestly the most effective method I use to reduce stress. Laughter is the best medicine, after all. Seriously, according to Mayo Clinic, laughter has significant impacts on stress. This includes short term effects like alleviating muscle tension as well as broader effects, like boosting your immune system. Every year since 7th grade I’ve decided to act absolutely deranged in at least one class, and it has genuinely relieved a great deal of stress through the medium of laughter. Imagine a bucket of stress building up over the day and dumping it out in a flurry of stupid actions. There’s not really any scientific explanation for acting like an idiot (and conversely laughing) though, only my personal experiences, so take this tip with a grain of salt. Use your own judgment in determining if you’ll just embarrass yourself or if you’ll be able to laugh it off.

Convert to Nihilism

Nothing matters. Why should you care? Think about where you’ll be in a few days, a few weeks, months, years. There’s a good chance (if you’re a highschooler) that whatever you’re stressing out about doesn’t matter at all in the long run. This isn’t to say you should give up on all your aspirations and schoolwork right at this point in time, but rather to reassess if worrying about it will do anything. Spoiler alert, it won’t. (Unless you’re doing something rigorous and could actually determine important events, here’s what I’ll tell you: It’s clear whatever you’re doing isn’t going to be easy. Whether you chose this task as a challenge for yourself or if misfortune just decided to rain on you out of the blue, you can do it!)

I hope these tactics help you release some tension. At the very least, you found this article a bit humorous.