When everything is building and building until you just want to scream/pull your hair out/run away from home/find your pacifier (I used to call mine a “blah blah”), what do you do? How can you calm yourself down into prioritizing your tasks and breathing again?

• Take 5 deep breaths while picturing rainbows and kittens and your high school crush while the colors in your mind go from yellow to blue to white and your favorite Smurf sings you the lullabye that your Mom used to rock you to sleep with…OK, only kidding. But making jokes makes me slow down, so I guess I’m only kinda kidding.
• Walk away from it. If possible, go outside and get some air/move your muscles/buy an ice cream (ice cream makes everything better). If you can’t leave your area, turn your back on what’s frustrating you or go to another area of the room. Take a piece of paper or a pen with you and write down every task your brain is trying to process and prioritize the list. Or doodle. Or write a letter to your computer explaining why you want to kick it in it’s big fat face.
• Call someone that you can vent to, and either vent away or choose not to. Sometimes not talking about a challenge will clear your head so you can go back to it fresh.
• If it’s a person that’s bothering you and they can’t see you, mouth “Suck it!” in silence over and over again. And mean it. Add whatever crude hand gesture you want. I swear this works wonders.