Well, I have channeled that energy in a lot of ways over the course of years. I used to like to write music and play my violin when I was feeling that way. I composed some pretty edgy pieces when I was very stressed and anxious, and at the risk of sounding pretentious, many were pretty good! Music is a wonderful outlet for stress.
Before my injuries, I also used to run a lot when I was stressed and it always seemed like I could run farther and faster for some reason. Now, I can't really do that except on days when I'm feeling particularly good.
Lately, the best ways I have found to channel stress energy is to clean if I'm at home, or if I happen to be on campus, work in the lab for a while. Sometimes I do experiments, other times I just spend some time with my calculations, and really pour that energy into that. I have come up with some really great stuff when I'm very stressed. The way I see it, physics gives me stress. It's a stressful major. I have to give that stress back to physics in the form of hard work and innovative thinking. I'm not perfect at it yet, and admittedly, there are days when I want to curl up in a ball and hide from it, but those days are rare, and I'm learning every day how to more effectively channel my stress into work. My professor says that's what I have to learn how to do because while my future looks bright, if I'm going to be an experimental physicist, it also looks stressful.
Of course, there are days when the best possible way to channel stress is simply to drag Thak to bed and attack him! Lots of good can come of that, too. LOL
Or punch some little ditty in the face.
Sunny, June 20th '08
