With great stardom comes great stress - learn how to de-stress from your favourite celebrities and leaders

One of the major problems plaguing our society is stress. While it’s quite normal to get stressed out, given that we all lead fast-paced lives where a deadline to complete a task sounds more alarming than missing out on a family outing, we should be wary of the possibility of cracking under excess pressure.

Did you find your mind to be overridden with pressure and tiredness? Did you get so stressed out from work, that you felt like your grey matter was about to ooze out of your head? Well these are some of the symptoms that call for an immediate de-stressing.

While attempting to remain cool under stressful circumstances is an ordeal, we could, possibly, gain some inspiration from celebrities who have made the handling of stress an art. We seek to emulate the traits of our favourite celebrities, ranging from their charitable nature to flashy abs. Well, we could also learn a lesson or two from them on how to de-stress.

Narendra Modi

Journeying around the world with vigour and panache at the age of 65 is an arduous job. Coupled with donning the Prime Minister’s robes for the world’s largest democracy, Narendra Modi’s job is stressful as hell. But Modi keeps himself calm by doing yoga and meditation early in the morning.

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Elon Musk

Unlike many, who panic when they get stressed, Elon Musk just adds the stress to the fire, fueling him to scale greater heights. One piece of advice he wishes to impart to everyone is

People should certainly ignore fear if it’s irrational. Even if it’s rational and the stake is worth it, it’s still worth proceeding

Barack Obama

Being President is no easy task. With every action of his being scrutinised and each word uttered being analysed, Barack Obama’s job is equivalent to walking on a high rope blindfolded. However, Obama credits his cool-headed attitude to his early morning exercise and Hawaiian roots. He also says that spending quality time with his family helps him keep his stress levels under control.

Cristiano Ronaldo

While a role model for millions, Ronaldo’s de-stressing techniques may not suit all. Ronaldo takes to the punching bag to alleviate his stress and he also plays Jambe-bongo drums. When particularly disheartened after a defeat, Ronaldo finds solace in solitude; he locks himself up in a spare bedroom in his house.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni 

You can’t write an article on how to get over stress and miss out on MS Dhoni for an example. An epitome at handling tense situations, when many might have been praying to the dearest of gods to help them win the match, Captain Cool keeps humming songs while batting to maintain his concentration.

Oprah Winfrey

Another star known for her punctuality, Oprah Winfrey tries to keep her day as predictable as possible. A sound 6 hours of sleep, a pleasant morning routine and an energetic evening make up a typical day in the life of Oprah. She feels that anything off the paper would makes her less focused and agitated. So she says that a planned day is the best way to beat stress and procrastination.

Brad Pitt

Yes, the star who is critically acclaimed for his dialogues in the cult movie “Fight Club”, giving advice on how to get over a mundane and stressful job, himself had rough patches dealing with stress. However, he retreats back to his childhood love of architecture to get over such stressful periods. In addition to architecture, puzzles and crosswords are other stress busters for Brad.

Priyanka Chopra

One of the trendsetters of bollywood, this actress believes herself to be very “high-headed.” To battle pressure and tension, she adopts meditation and mind control techniques. At times, spending time with her parents is the best stress buster, claims Priyanka.

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Angelina Jolie

The stunningly beautiful actress had a hard time calming down with all the chaos around her. At times of such high pressure, she tries to find joy in the little things.

I find meditation in sitting on the floor with the kids coloring for an hour, or going on the trampoline. You have to do something that you love, in order to get over stress. It makes you happy and that gives you your meditation

Viswanathan Anand

To excel at any sport, an optimum balance of both brain and brawn is required. For Viswanathan Anand, however, it’s a whole lot more one-sided, with brain power being put to the fore in a chess match. In order to stay quick-witted and maintain a positive frame of mind, Anand goes on a small holiday with his family before major tournaments. While chess requires a great deal of work from the brain, Anand focuses on developing his stamina, via physical sports, to keep his mind fresh.

Richard Branson

Having built the massive Virgin group of companies from scratch, Richard Branson wouldn’t be too bothered if he lost all his wealth overnight. The only two things that he values more than the world are his health and family. He gets stressed only when either of the above is endangered.

Stop and consider what problems are truly stressful, bearing in mind the important things in life: health and family. This realisation will relieve your mind of the trivial stresses of work.

Usain Bolt

The fastest man to have set his feet on the Earth’s surface, Usain Bolt heads straight to his room and starts gaming, whenever he gets stressed out. He remarks that 4 hours with the Play Station leaves him feeling jolly good.

Sachin Tendulkar

Having had one of the most illustrious careers in cricketing history, Sachin’s numbers speak volumes. However beyond the field, Sachin went through phases when he suffered from low self esteem. He pulled through those phases thanks to his family and friends always being there for him . Sachin meditates a lot, in order to achieve a clarity of mind and remain calm.

Pressure gets to you because your mind is either delving into the past or peeping into the future. If your mind is preoccupied with past failures, or is anticipating future ones, the pressure builds. Your mind has to be in the present. Only then will you not feel the pressure.

Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama juggles a workaholic President for a husband, two school-going teenage daughters and the spotlight, courtesy of being the first lady of the USA, with utmost ease and care. Nevertheless she feels tensed and stressed very often. To get over such times, she resorts to music and takes to the gym or heads out on a bike ride with her buddies.

Bill Gates

Who better to give you lessons on how to de-stress than the richest man in the world himself? Bill Gates attributes the occurrence of stress to the complexity of the problem. But he says that if one is capable of breaking down a complex problem into rudimentary parts, then solving them is an easy task.

The ability to boil things down, to just work on things that really count, to think through the basics...It’s a special form of genius.

Also read: Lessons from Legends — Warren Buffett

Amitabh Bachchan

Even Big B was at times stumped by stress, resulting in lacklustre situations. However, he regains his mojo by listening to classical and instrumental music. His love for traditional music and evergreen melodies is well known. He says that music calms him down and clears his head.

Warren Buffett

One of the richest people on the planet, Warren Buffett spends 80% of his day in reading and thinking. To have an undisturbed environment for him to work in, he has no computers in his study. Buffett believes that such distractions cultivate a stressful work environment, and hence urges everyone to cultivate a healthy work culture that motivates people to work rather than stressing them out.

Jeff Bezos

The Amazon founder feels that stress primarily comes from not taking action over something that you can have some control over. Jeff Bezos feels that by clearing your mind, you will be able to tackle stressful situations in a better way.

Susan Wojcicki

An inspiration to women all across the globe, this 47 year old CEO of YouTube advises people to take their minds off their work when they are stressed. She suggests that even a small walk or a small period of physical exertion could relieve you of tension and pressure.

I think it’s really important to take time off. I have also found that, sometimes, you get really good insights by taking time off.

Jack Dorsey

Always a step ahead, Jack Dorsey sees to it that he plans something or the other for every minute of the day and tries to stick to the plan. He believes that people get stressed only when their day starts taking unexpected turns.

Set a rhythm for yourself- plan ahead and work to a structured schedule. Increased consistency in your routine will boost focus and increase your understanding of the overall picture.

Stress is troublesome for us all. A bad day at work or repetitive failures with your project can result in mounting pressure and can drive a person crazy. But at times it’s just the heat of the moment taking its toll on us. Once we understand this, de-stressing will become an easy task. To de-stress, we have to take our mind off our work and concentrate on what we love to derive joy out of it.

If you know of a novel way to de-stress or invaluable advice, from any celebrity, please comment below.