[Fineus]

A kinda curious question, when someone is saying the kind of things you really don't want to hear - and you know you're going to be really upset at this rate, what do you do to deal with the stress? No given situation to this or whatever.. you can be wherever you want doing whatever you want, all it has to do is deal with the stress and anger inside you.

So... lets see what happens!

[01010]

Originally posted by Thunder
A kinda curious question, when someone is saying the kind of things you really don't want to hear - and you know you're going to be really upset at this rate, what do you do to deal with the stress? No given situation to this or whatever.. you can be wherever you want doing whatever you want, all it has to do is deal with the stress and anger inside you.

So... lets see what happens!

NINJA CHOP!!!

[IceFire]

Well lets see....I've done plenty of soccer refereeing now and pretty much every game is a potential opportunity for everyone to be mad as hell at me and me to be mad at hell at them for being complete and utterly devoid of any understanding of the rules of the game.

That being said...first technique is this.  Take a very slow and deep breath.  Sounds stupid, but to an extent it works.  But only to an extent.  You're still mad as hell and they only continue to increase the stress.

Usually...I manage to endure till I can get away and tell (and yell) to a family member or close friend about all of the stupidity.  The alternative is something bad...and I rarely do it...but I have on rare occasion been pushed over the edge to explode into the irish temper that I have...I breath fire and shoot ice from my eyeballs (hehe!).  Fortunately, I'm never a violent person and the only thing I regret is yelling.

[aldo_14]

either;

a/ Just ignore it politely and blatantly
or
b/ Start verbals in return

[Vertigo1]

Usually at first I take a VERY deep breath, then either I surf pr0n sites to get my mind on other things, or I blow **** up in Red Faction.

[Neo]

I take a deep breath and begin to verbaly insult them in such a nice,calm manner that is makes them
mad and they are the ones that end up stressed and angry because I do not react the way they want me to.

[Alikchi]

I give people this stupid, "I don't care what you say, I'm not listening" smile and let my eyes glaze over. Eventually they go away.

[Nico]

I really don't get upset easily ( well, not in real life at least ), so I just bear with it until it's over.

[Stryke 9]

There are damn few things anyone could say that'd upset me for a long period of time. Those that would piss me off to that great a deal would pretty much necessarily be grounds for some serious revenge-taking, since you'd have to **** up my life pretty much irreversibly to make me get that upset, at least for more than about five or ten minutes.

[phreak]

sledge + brick

[Gortef]

I'll take a breath and then I usually manage to get over the anger quite easily and fast...

sometimes I might get angry again later when I'm more or less alone and then I'll play some FPS online to get ridd of the rest of the anger Slaughtering pixels works quite well, and no one is really harmed

... or I'll go to sleep... it's the ultimate stress remover

[ZylonBane]

Originally posted by Vertigo1
Usually at first I take a VERY deep breath, then either I surf pr0n sites to get my mind on other things, or I blow **** up in Red Faction.

What if the thing stressing you is trying to figure out why Red Faction sucks so much?

[Sandwich]

I'd go visit Yad VaShem (the Holocaust Museum here) and just sit there for an hour or three. Kinda knocks things back into perspective rather quickly, makes you realize how truly insignificant your problems may be.

[Knight Templar]

Bloody Knuckles with the local bedpost is fun.

...

Followed by cold revenge of course.

[Anaz]

I usually either think/shout random swear words and stare at my wall until I get bored of staring at a wall and go back to programming/playing games

[Fetty]

in angry for about 5 mins then i forget it (or do i just pile it up inside ? )
then i go to a scrapeyard and destroy a car completly

[Whitelight]

Ok how to deal with stress, that can sometimes be a tough one.. The first thing is taking a few deep breaths, and a short time out that can be the difference between being civil or being a loose cannon..

I have noted that it is easier for me to help a friend out with a stressful problem than if the problem was mine..

The closer you maybe to a person the easier it is for them to cause you undue stress....  

Meditation is also a good outlet providing you can clear your mind of all thoughts and distance yourself, (on a mental level) from the stress, not an easy task but can be obtained...

Another thing is that some  people may go through cycles of highs and lows, at a low point for stress you can gaff it off...

Though praying may not be acceptable for some this is another way that i deal with work and family related stress...

Raising my voice is something i strive to steer clear of.. Have you ever noticed that at times when a friend gets loud with you and you respond with a soft tone (void of anger) they tend to calm down and talk rather than yell...

Useing a combination of all the above helps for me..
I am aware though that there are times when you are backed into a corner and must speak your peace in a harsh tone to get resualts, hopefully these instances are far and few between...

[Midnight Mercenary]

heh...my anger has always been a problem for me...I rarely let myself get seriously mad, but when I do, I have absolutely no control...if I ever get that far, I'll simply force myself to walk away. I've gotten in trouble more than once for just getting up and walking out of a class or another situation that required my attendence, but I prefer dealing with that afterwards instead of whatever my anger may have resulted in if I hadn't left. I also find that going on a long walk sometime after midnight really calms me down...it lets me get rid of all the built up stress I carry around...there's just something about the contrast between this city during the day and during the night...it's so calming, considering that I'm not a significant part of it. Also, seeing the stars helps...it adds to the insignificant part of it...

[Fineus]

Thanks for that guys, I think I'll take the route of meditation and deep breaths... Whitelight managed to guess my problem without me even mentioning it in that one of my once very close friends has changed radically in the space of a couple of weeks and now it doesn't feel like she's got time to give me the time of day. I don't know how it'll end but this helps, thanks guys

[Cuttenslise]

This might sound odd, but only my partner has the capability of making me really stressed, and this is because it takes her about 2 hours of solid work to do it. Otherwise, getting stressed is for other people.

If someone is ranting at me, I just look at them and don't say anything, even if they have a valid point. When they are done with the rant, I say 'Are you finished', and let the next tirade go by. The net result is that one of two things happens - the person goes away (as they are not interested that I don't want a slanging match) or they calm down and a sensible discussion follows.

Having re-read the starting question, a few more things spring to mind. Once'Time Out' has been called after one of my partner's rants (She can nag for England - cruel, but true, and I think that she knows it) I ask myself some questions, and give myself honest answers. (This last bit is very important.)

1)  Am I guilty of the things that have been said in the rant? (Selfish, greedy etc.) If so, what changes do I need to make to ensure said problem does not come back?

2)  If the answer to above is no, is there something else going on in other person's life that could be causing the problem. (You may not know about this.) My own experience is that I get it in the neck for something trivial, when in fact my partner is worried about something else that is completely unrelated to the rant that I am getting!

3)  Is the other person simply being unreasonable, selfish etc?

Once you know what the problem is, you can then deal with it in the qppropriate manner. (I can't tell you what this, unfortunately - circumstances always dictate!)