Online Resources to Recharge Your Batteries
Free tools to reduce stress, improve your perspective on life, and recharge your body, mind, and spirit
With all the demands on library staff, it is possible to be overcome by stress and busyness. Here are some free online resources that can help reduce stress, improve your perspective on life, and recharge your mind and spirit.
De-Stress
- 5 Ways to De-Stress and Help Your Heart (from Harvard Medical School)
- 20 Scientifically Backed Ways to De-Stress Right Now (from HuffPost)
- Happify (Science-Based Activities & Games to Overcome Stress & Life’s Challenges)
- Online Coloring Book Pages for Adults
- Mindshift (from AnxietyBC)
- Coping with Stress (free online course from This Way Up)
- 7cups (Free, anonymous and confidential online text chat with trained listeners, online therapists, & counselors)
- How to Make Stress Your Friend (TED talk by Kelly McGonigal)
- Feng Shui: 6 Top Tips to Transform Your Office
Health
- Office Stretches (from Mayo Clinic)
- Stretches to Do at Work Every Day (from Healthline)
- Three Breathing Exercises & Techniques (from Dr. Weil)
- Relaxation Techniques (from Harvard Medical School)
- 20 Exercises to Do at Your Desk (from Dr. Axe)
- How to Sneak in A Workout at Your Desk (video from Dolvett Quince)
- 12 Ways to Make Your Office Better for Your Health (from Health.com)
- 8 Ways to Recharge Your Energy and Your Spirit (from Prevention.com)
Meditation
- Meditation for Beginners (from Zen Habits)
- 5 Meditation Tips for Beginners (from Psychology Today)
- Meditation Oasis
- The 10 Best Guided Meditation Sites (from Conscious Panda)
- Stop, Breathe & Think (5 Minutes to Peace)
- Meditation Music on YouTube
Personality Tests
- Jung / Myers-Briggs Typology Test
- Kingdomality Personal Preference Profile
- Quick Work Preference Inventory
- Right Brain / Left Brain Quiz
- What’s Your Personality Archetype?
- VisualDNA Personality Quiz
- Emotional Reaction Questionnaire
- Free Personality Test (NERIS Type Explorer)
Music
- Spotify (artist radio or create your own stress-relieving playlist)
- Pandora (artist radio, genre radio, or create your own station)
- Jango (artist radio, genre radio, create your own, and variety levels)
- iHeartRadio (genres, playlists, and custom stations)
- Slacker Radio (personalized stations, plus news, sports, comedy, etc.)
- 10 Hours Relaxation Music with Waterfall Sounds
- De-Stress Music on YouTube
- Relaxing Music on YouTube
- Classical Music for Relaxation on YouTube
Puzzles
- Free Rice (vocabulary tests – 10 grains of rice donated for each correct answer)
- Jigidi (free online jigsaw puzzles with user-submitted photos)
- Free Online Jigsaw Puzzles
- Puzzles and Games from USA Today
- Puzzly Game – Free Online Puzzles
- Trivia Questions and Answers
- Random Trivia Generator
Humor
- Humor LibGuide (by Scott Pfitzinger)
- Unshelved: the library comic strip
- The Onion (satirical news site)
- The Oatmeal (mostly comics)
- iFunny (“your daily dose of fun,” listed in Top 10 Most Popular Apps in US)
- Savage Chickens (daily cartoons on sticky notes)
- GoComics (500+ comic strips updated daily)
- Funny Signs
- Jokes.cc.com (categorized jokes from Comedy Central)
- Literally Unbelievable (the Onion meets gullible Facebook users)
Memes
- 9GAG (funny GIFS and memes)
- Memes.com (funny memes)
- Memes on Reddit
- Funny Library Memes
- Meme Generator (make your own)
- Meme Generator (from imgflip)
Other Distractions
- Virtual Bubble Wrap
- Flower Maker
- Ranker.com – Vote on everything!
- Fantastic Contraption
- Pinterest (Scott’s Pinterest site)
- Falling Sands
- Addicting Games
- Start a Medieval Hobby with the SCA
- 20 Things to Do Online When You’re Bored
- Make Everything OK
- The End of the Internet
Desperate?
- Email me and I’ll send you a joke or funny picture or cartoon: spfitzinger@uwlax.edu
As Garrison Keillor Says
Be Well, Do Good Work, and Keep In Touch
(Keillor’s traditional sign-off on “The Writer’s Almanac”)