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In our co-production workshops for the ‘Self Compassion’ theme, as part of the Resilience Rucksack project, young people advised us on the best ways to engage children in starting to think about and practising self compassion to help enhance overall wellbeing. Three tools stood out as the best and most engaging ways to start thinking about and practising self compassion: A stress ball that you can carry with you, a journal with guides for supporting your own self compassion, a list of recommended fun fiction books that involve self compassion themes. Here we talk about the ‘Stress ball’ tool!
The RR Stress Ball
We all experience the feeling of anxiety at points in our lives. Anxiety happens when we feel especially worried about something and NHS UK have outlined a number of symptoms, including a racing heartbeat, feeling restless, and having difficulty concentrating. Stress balls are a tool that can help us through these feelings at times where they may feel overwhelming.
Stress balls work in two ways.
- They can make us feel happy. This is through the releasing of endorphins, our ‘happy chemicals’, which our bodies naturally produce when we are doing something we enjoy. This can reduce feelings of anxiety.
- Stress balls can provide a distraction by diverting our attention away from whatever is making us feel anxious.
Stress balls can also help you develop your hand strength, which is key for fine motor skills such as writing!
Stress balls are very easy to use and practising this technique over time can help it to become a supportive habit.