Dec. 9: Stomp, stomp, stomp

I remember when I first saw a child throw a full, no holds-barred tantrum. It was pretty stressful on the parent, but after the child was done, all their frustration was gone, and they were limp with exhaustion.

During the early days of the pandemic, things were very stressful. We had daily updates with rapidly escalating numbers and new behaviours to practice, accompanied by lockdowns and guidelines. I had a conversation then about my anxiety and frustration with Cate (FieldPoppy), a regular contributor to this blog. She gave me great advice: get up and stomp around.

I did and it was very satisfying. It didn’t solve the world crisis but it certainly helped me let go of stress. As I learned, stomping offers adults a physically positive way to deal with frustration while also releasing negative energy. These days I often stomp around just for the fun of it.

If you aren’t sure if stomping is for you, try a few jumping jacks, march hard in place for a minute, or weed or rake leaves fiercely. Other options are to shake your arms and hands energetically as if you are trying to fly or kick your feet as if you are playing soccer from your chair. Whatever you do, recognize negative energy will weigh you down and a short burst of fierceness will lighten that load.