Surreal Stress Relief

The other day, I went to a mall with my husband and two kids. They had a band playing swing dance music, and there was a crowd gathered, with a dance floor and several people dancing. Seconds after we slowed our gait, thinking about stopping to watch, an older gentleman came through the crowd, made eye contact with me, and immediately grabbed my hand and took me to the dance floor as if we had some type of understanding, and I actually knew how to dance to swing music.

Normally, I would stress about not knowing this person, possibly not having time for this, and the fact that the last thing I should be doing in front of a crowd is pretending I know how to swing dance. However, this guy was so un-self-conscious and obviously having such a great time (and either oblivious to the fact that I was butchering this dance, or a great actor as well as dancer), that it was contagious.

As I tried not to break an arm or get my hands sweaty from accidentally touching this stranger's back, I started to just let go of my thoughts and enjoy the moment. The music, the dancing and the excitement from the whole experience became a great stress relief.

As I returned to my laughing husband and stunned children, and we continued on through the mall, I thought of how this experience related to stress management in that it contained a few of the stress relievers that I love to share the most: the aforementioned music and dancing (well, exercise), as well as mindfulness (just being in the moment) and maintaining a sense of humor.

Have you had an out-of-the-ordinary stress relief experience lately? Share it in the Stress Management Forum!