Owning It: De-Stress Techniques

By Allison Sass

We all have an inner dork lurking within us. This is very different from the "ironic dorks" that so many post grad "hipsters" pride themselves on being, or the "stereotypical dorks" that thrive on memorizing calculus formulas and shopping for their newest pocket protector.

Inner dorks are much more embarrassing. These are the quirks that make up so much of who we are, yet we try as hard as possible to protect from being seen by the outside public. Well readers, I am going to level with you and offer up a few of my own my quirks. There are far to many for one entry, but since it's friday, I thought I'd talk about the ways I de-stress after work.

I do de-stress using some pretty common techniques. I go to the gym often, read, or enjoy a glass of tea or wine. But lets move past the boring stuff here- bring on the embarrassing!

One of my favorite ways to relax before heading to bed is to watch TLC/ HGTV/Discovery Health tv shows. Do they provide me with actual knowledge? No.. well maybe more than the Jersey Shore.. but mostly no. I just love watching newlyweds redesign their homes and polygamist family drama.

I also love to play the piano, I have this awesome keyboard in my room that I should probobly bust out some classical or indie rock music on. Instead I enjoy learning how to play 90's pop songs (I learned Hit Me Baby One More Time last week) and Taylor Swift tunes (although I've already stated in a past entry that her music is my guilty pleasure).

When I do indulge in my stereotypical evening workouts, I like to listen to the most vulgar rap music I can get my hands on. The more cursing and offensive innuendos the better, for some reason this pumps me up on the treadmill.

Since Shikole and I have been friends for a very long time, I'd thought I'd wrap up this post by sharing one of our relaxation traditions when we are both home in the Hudson Valley. You would think we look forward to doing the typical, shopping the night away, seeing a movie, girl thing, but no no no.

What we enjoy most is buying nerds rope from our favorite Stewart's gas station, heading to our local community college parking lot, sitting there (in the car still) and gossiping. I guess the community college could technically be considered a landmark now though, since it's where Snookie went to college before hitting it big on the Jersey Shore.

What do you do to relax that you don't normally share? Write your relaxation tips in the comments and own your inner dork!