Make a Stress Doll

People, events and emotions in our lives can often make us feel trapped, angry, and stressed. Emotions have strong influences over your body, and unreleased stress or anger can often become pent up inside and cause you more pain/anxiety. Although working things out emotionally is something we all have to do during various stages of our person lives, often physical release can help you get rid of strong emotions and spur of the moment anger/stress bursts, therefore making it easier for you to think clearly afterwards.

However, things can become dangerous if you take out emotions by harming others - or by going over the top. Screaming or even hurting people, smashing and ruining things leave damage and hurt that will last longer than your stress. To avoid making mistakes and hurting yourself or others more, making a stress ball is a great idea. Stress dolls can be thrown, kicked, punched - used in any way that helps relieve your emotions. After using your stress doll regularly, your subconscious will come to link the stress doll to the release, creating a safer and much healthier way of releasing your emotions.

Steps

 * 1) Draw an outline of a doll on a sheet of paper with a sharp pencil and cut it out. This will be your pattern. When drawing your outline, think about things that will make your stress doll easier to use. It may be helpful to consider that:[[Image:Make a Stress Doll Step 1.jpg|center]]
 * 2) *Larger dolls are easier to use, because they're better for punching or just squeezing like a stress ball.
 * 3) *Making the shape of your doll very simple can help - rather than making a detailed and precise sketch, try to make the doll round shaped or long, making it easier to use so that various bits and bobs of the doll don't get in your way.
 * 4) Use the pattern to cut out 2 dolls from your fabric. Remember that the fabric you use can be symbolic and helpful, rather than just anything. For example, fabric in a calming color, such as blue, may help you remember that things will settle eventually. Or you can use a more violent colour such as red, to help get rid of the anger and stress and so you feel like the doll means something. You can also cut the 2 sides of the doll out in different colours, so one side may be an angry/stressful colour, and then the next side calm, so that you can use the angry side and then the peaceful.[[Image:Make a Stress Doll Step 2.jpg|center]]
 * 5) ''Pin the right sides of the 2 doll fabric pieces together with sewing pins. Check for any inaccuracies in your cutting or overall shape and fix them quickly. When pinning, be sure to line the edges up carefully.[[Image:Make a Stress Doll Step 3.jpg|center]]
 * 6) Sew the 2 doll fabric pieces together, using a thread that matches the fabric. Remove any pins that you come across as you are sewing. Leave a small section, at least 1-inch long, open.[[Image:Make a Stress Doll Step 4.jpg|center]]
 * 7) Reach inside the open side of the fabric dolls and stuff the doll with your fabric stuffing.. Like the shape and colour, the stuffing can also make your stress doll better to use - if you're a kicker or a puncher, soft, squashy material will work for you - a squeezer might prefer uncooked rice so the doll feels grainy. Make sure that you stuff the doll well, but are able to sew up the side.[[Image:Make a Stress Doll Step 5.jpg|center]]
 * 8) Stitch the opening closed. If you want, you can draw a face or other features on your doll or just leave it blank. Remember that no design is right or wrong - all that matters is that the doll works for you.[[Image:Make a Stress Doll Step 6.jpg|center]]

Tips

 * Stress dolls can take some time to get used to, particularly if you usually take your anger out in other physical ways. At first the doll may not seem to be working. But stick to it and see what works for you - the angry/calm side, the texture, or just beating the living daylights out of it. Get into the habit of recognizing when stress or anger builds up and pulling out your stress doll each time. Like a routine, the stress doll will become the taker or pacifier of your negative emotions.
 * Make sure your stitches are strong and the fabric and work sturdy enough that your doll won't fall apart after using it.
 * Although the stress doll can help with physical and some emotional problems, it won't magically heal wounds and solve problems. It's there for you to take things out on, or to remind you that these feelings are just that: feelings, not sins or things you ought to be ashamed of. To actually help yourself you need to define and work through your problems.
 * If you get mad at school, then try to bring it there.
 * Giving your stress doll a name can help you define your emotions and separate angry urges or senseless impulses from your real self, rather than getting confused and frustrated. You can name the doll something personal to you, something inspirational that will inspire you to keep going, or something straightforward like "Anger" so you can define your feelings.

Warnings

 * Stress dolls, like stress balls, don't work for everyone. Some people feel better screaming into a pillow, running hard, or doing something passive like writing or drawing to define their emotions and situations. So if the stress doll doesn't seem to work for you, don't be frustrated; seek out other alternatives.
 * Do not throw your stress doll at anyone else or anything breakable.

Things You'll Need

 * Paper
 * Pencil
 * Scissors
 * Fabric
 * Sewing pins
 * Needle/thread or sewing machine
 * Stuffing
 * Felt tip pen/Fabric markers

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