Hello folks, this is James checking in from vacation. It’s wrapping up in just a day (even if I’m technically not flying back to California) and I thought it pertinent to prepare for diving back into life in the working world, with all the money and stress that comes along with it. Here at Out of Treble, we had a couple posts while I was away, with looks at new offerings from folk artist Anais Mitchell and the legendary Leonard Cohen, but I’ve personally been away from most things having to do with sports writing, bill-paying, professional correspondence, Twitter (yes, part of my job) and things of that nature.

Now that I’m set to return to the tumultuous world and all of the stress that comes with it (though I am better-equipped to handle it now than before said vacation), I thought I’d highlight something that, while not entirely music-related, accomplishes one of the things that many people use music for: stress relief.

Count me as someone who isn’t easily moved by things – and who views just about every form of stress relief that doesn’t involve hitting things, sexy time, great music or hitting things (that one is important, and please note “things” and not “people”) a colossal waste of time. So when somebody linked to the quiet place (no caps) via Twitter a few months back, I was skeptical. But I checked it out.

I don’t know if it’s the message or the music – neither is probably important in this case – but it helps immensely. Take a couple minutes, visit the quiet place, breathe and think of nothing. Listen to the music if you’d like, but ignore everything else. I do this just about every day, and it always sets me straight for at least a couple hours. I even tried doing it once immediately after getting bad news, and it softened the blow.

I’m not a preacher and I’m not campaigning for anything. If this doesn’t help you, oh well – it’s not the be-all, end-all solution and you can always try drinking, hitting things or anything else mentioned. Personally, I find the idea admirable, and think more people should check it out. Visit the quiet place (and turn off those notifications … even the ones from out of treble on Twitter)