3 Stress-Relieving DIYs That Are Cheaper Than a Therapist

Sarah Essex
Updated

We all lead busy, hectic lives these days. With so much going on, it’s easy to feel stressed, even anxious at times. Though that feeling is totally normal, it’s not all that welcome, and we like to arm ourselves with little tricks and weapons to combat it.

At Yahoo Makers, we’re big fans of “Stress Fidgets” or plainly put, little objects that we can use to counteract that stress and anxiety.

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We’ve all kept a stress ball or two lying around on our desks, but these days, we’ve started to DIY our own versions.

Here are three of our favorites…

A Balloon Stress Ball

There’s nothing quite like taking out your stress on something by giving it a good squeeze! Store bought stress balls will, of course, do the trick, but they’re nowhere near as satisfying as the squishy, soft, pliable goodness of ballloon filled with play dough.

Materials:

  • 4” Balloons

  • Play dough in small containers

Instructions:

1. Remove the play dough cap and loosen the ball of play dough inside.

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2. Fit the mouth of a balloon over the mouth of the play dough container.

3. Turn upside down, tap the container so the play dough falls out into the balloon.

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4. Mush the play dough down to the bottom of balloon, pull up to make it snug, and tie the balloon off.

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Bead on a Wire

You know how sometimes you just need to fiddle with something? That overwhelming sensation when your agitated or nervous, which results in not being able to hold still. Keep a bead on a wire around your wrist, that way you’ll always have something to calm you down.

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Materials:

  • Beads

  • Colored Wire

Tools:

  • Wire cutters

  • Needle nosed pliers

Instructions:

1. Snip off a piece of wire long enough to go around your wrist plus 2”.

2. Pinch the very end of wire in the needle nosed pliers and twist into a knot/ball.

3. String a bead or two onto the wire.

4. Pinch the other end of wire in the needle nosed pliers and twist into another knot ball.

5. Wrap around wrist and twist the two ends of wire together loosely to make the bracelet.

Related on Yahoo Makers: Use Your Noodle! 4 Genius Uses for Those Pool Noodles

Pool Noodle Squeezers

Who knew that long after the end of “pool season”, the infamous pool noodle could still serve a purpose. A wonderful alternative to the stress ball, a slice of pool noodle is just firm enough to give you good resistance when you squeeze it.

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Materials:

  • Styrofoam pool noodles/ toys (various sizes for various sized hands)

Tools:

  • Utility knife

Instructions:

1. Hold foam noodle with one hand and place utility knife to the thickness you want for ‘squeezer’.

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2. Twist the noodle as you slice with knife through thickness to make a ring.

Also on Yahoo Makers:

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