As a tutor, my life is inseparable from stress. This is especially true during periods like pre-exam reviews or summer intensive courses, when work hours stretch long and stress builds up. Even when I provide thorough guidance, seeing students bring back mediocre grades adds an overwhelming amount of stress.
My secret stress relief method is doing “spot the difference” puzzles with illustrations or photos. At first glance, you might think, “Wouldn’t that just add more stress?” But surprisingly, it works for me as a stress reliever.
Let me explain the method right away, but first, I should clarify that I don’t do these puzzles the normal way. If I did, I’d just pile on more stress—something I’m not keen on. This might sound contradictory, but I’m actually not good at spot the difference puzzles.
I don’t believe “overcoming challenges” is a stress relief method—work already gives me enough of that. So, you might wonder, “Why do it then?” The trick is, I use a technique I learned for relaxing eye muscles—looking at things with a cross-eyed method—while doing the puzzles.
With poor eyesight, I researched vision improvement online and came across this technique, often called the “stereoscopic method.” When you look at special images this way, they appear three-dimensional.
They say it helps with vision recovery. Applying this to spot the difference, the identical parts of two images look normal, while the differing parts look distorted. Those distortions are the mistakes.
With this approach, I can spot the differences instantly. I use it to play with friends, solving puzzles in a flash and basking in the superiority—that’s my stress relief method.
※本記事は個人の実体験に基づくストレス解消法に関する情報ですが、記載内容は医療アドバイスではありません。専門的なアドバイスを希望する場合は医師へ相談を。
※This article provides information on stress relief methods. The content is not medical advice. Consult a doctor for professional advice.