Visit a place you really enjoyed as a kid. When I say this, I assume you’re not a kid…you’re at least in college.
Now it’s not the first thing I would do when I get stressed. I’d usually go play volleyball, eat my favorite food, or watch my favorite Korean drama to relieve my stress. But it not being the first way to relieve stress is not the reason why I say it’s odd.
I think it’s an odd way to relieve stress because it reminds and shows you how less stressful your life was. The thought that life was once way less stressful and simple just seems so mind blowing. It’s like “I stress out so much on a daily basis. How was there a point in my life were I wasn’t stressing everyday?” This perspective came to me when I visited my favorite place as a kid while visiting my Dad.
Visiting my Dad and ending up at UCI
I went to go visit my Dad over the weekend. We didn’t have anything planned so I kind of just improvised where we would go. After breakfast at Newport Beach, I took him to UCI (University of California, Irvine) because it was one of my favorite places from childhood (I attended summer camp at UCI 3 summers in a row). Plus, the weather was extremely nice. We parked at the local University Center and walked around campus.
I found myself sharing all my fond memories of the campus with my Dad. I took him to the dorms I used to live in and showed the basketball court where I first learned about dodgeball. I pointed out all the buildings that I had classes in and where the camp group went to play after classes. Heck I even helped a parent around the dorm area when I didn’t even study at the school! I just knew the area so well because I spent several summers here as a kid.
By the time we finished walking, I felt very refreshed and less stressed. I believe what helped were the feelings of nostalgia and having the perspective of how simple life was back then and simple life could be.
Feelings of nostalgia
My mind was so focused on the positive memories that all the stress and anxiety I had from work and personal life felt non-existent. Thoughts about the dorms I lived in and places of camp gatherings replaced the thoughts about work deadlines and personal struggles. I could’ve stayed at the campus for hours but I’m pretty sure my Dad would’ve gotten bored.
How life seems so much simpler back then
Simple situation = less worry = less stress.
Compared to my life now as a working adult, being a kid was so simple, especially when I was at the camp. I say that very conservatively because I acknowledge that not everybody’s childhood was simple. But if you had a normal childhood, going to school and learning not to get hurt were really all you had to do as a kid. I didn’t have bills to pay, a job to work, or personal responsibilities. Thankfully, those were all taken care of by the camp counselors.
The daily itinerary was set out for me: all I had to do was go to classes and be at the correct place at the correct time. So simple! When the classes were done, it was fun time. And I wished fun time never stopped because it was too exhilarating to just rest. It was stuff like playing soccer with 4 teams at once or learning how to play super smash for the first time that got me hooked. There was little to no time for worry or stress.
Where would you go? Try it out!
If you are feeling stressed and you know that there was a place that you really enjoyed as a child, take a weekend to go and visit that place! Heck if you can even visit it when you’re already stressed, even better! It may feel weird doing it, but you might be surprised how you feel after spending time there.
If you’re at all curious about UCI, keep reading! I’ve included a brief intro and some fun facts about the school. I may not have gone to the school but it was fun researching all these details again.
UCI & Fun Facts!
UCI is one of 9 UC schools in California. As implied in the name, it’s located in Irvine, California (which BTW I think is one of the nicer cities in SoCal). It’s located close to the coast so the school gets great weather conditions year round. The school’s mascot is an anteater and with a little over 37k students that attend the university, that’s a whole lot of “zot zot” chants going around.
The campus, which is what made me fall in love with the university, is absolutely gorgeous. It’s not just well maintained but it’s also super nature-y. There’s a lot of flowers and trees, which make the campus very colorful. The campus itself also has a lot of buildings, all of which are unique in design and give off a very modern vibe. I think the other cool part about the campus is how it’s laid out in a circle. You can walk around and end up in the same place as you started. This circular layout helps make the campus feel safe and convenient to walk around. And at the very heart of the campus is a huge park (they call it Central Park).
Here are some other fun facts about the college:
- Ocean’s 11 was shot on UCI campus; the scene where they steal the “pinch” device was shot at one of the research facilities. I love the Ocean movies.
- The student housing area is called Middle Earth. Most of the buildings are named after places or things in Lord of the Rings. For example, I lived in a dorm called Shadowfax and had some meetings in Gandalf’s classroom (although I have yet to meet Gandalf…)
- UCI has over 30,000 trees planted across campus. Now I’ve already talked about the gorgeous campus, but this also speaks to UCI’s commitment to sustainability.
- UCI is known for its strength in medical science research and innovation. They have A LOT of buildings dedicated to the medical sciences. I mean…check out this building right here! It just looks awesome.
