What do you do to control stress?

No. 1 thing I do for stress relief is exercise.

I run/jog mostly twice a week and walk up to 3x a week, more if the weather is good. It burns off a tonne of stress (esp. running).

I also like to do yoga and pilates on my 'easy workout days'

Plus I 'force' myself to do hobbies (it's difficult to get started but once I'm in there I love it). At the moment it is card making.

I love to read (when I get time, in a quiet corner or if it's sunny I'll go find some nice tree to go lie under with a book. Sometimes even ebooks are ok to 'curl up' with.

Also some iPhone games you know, the puzzle type apps are fun. A good distraction from whatever is troubling me at the time. I am loving Tiny Chef right now. Soooo cute! Oh, and Green Farm 2.

I try to be fully present with whatever I'm doing. If I'm with my family, I stay focused on my family (not on my to do list) and if I'm working I try to stay focused on my work. This takes practice. It's about letting go of things and focusing on the present moment. Doesn't mean you don't plan ahead, but it makes things much easier if you are doing something and not stressing out about xyz that you have to do next or something that happened earlier.

I make sure to get enough sleep. That will buffer against stress. I also make sure to take care of all the basics: eat, health, exercise, etc. If you don't eat or take care of yourself, stress will be harder to manage.

I also try to give myself downtime and not feel guilty about it. We all need to recharge out batteries. Can't run on empty for too long. Schedule it in if you need to.

Stay away from or limit time with toxic people. They drain your energy and pull you down. If they have issues, recognize that they need to deal with it themselves. You can be supportive but they ultimately have to work on it themselves and you can't rescue them all the time.

When you make a to do list, prioritize. What are some things you can let slide? What are some things that need to be done right away? Also sometimes knocking off quick and easy stuff on your list helps you feel more productive and can energize you. If you find you are doing a lot of things on the lower priority first, you have to ask yourself is there a reason? (e.g. fear, avoidance, focused on others too much, etc). Then address it and move forward.

Anyway, those are some things that come to mind. Hope this helps.

for me, it's usually closing my eyes, taking a few deep breaths (focus on breathing), and then conciously taking a mental step away from the stress factor and focusing on something else. Kind of like mentally shaking it off, if that makes sense. Reading, walking, riding my exercise bike, yoga, surfing the internet, watching a movie... these are all other things to do or focus on. Sometimes a nice cup of tea or coffee helps me unwind too.