I have a little bucket that I keep in my backyard. It’s smaller than a bucket bucket (like for car washing) but it’s bigger than a grocery store yogurt container. Honestly, it’s sort of a silly size for a bucket. Originally it held dried chicken seasoning and I have no idea where it came from.

This is my stress bucket. 

Whenever I feel like things are out of my control and I’m feeling the pressure of the world, I take my little bucket and fill it with fallen pinecones in my yard. I empty the bucket into the yard waste bin and then I decide if I need to do it again. Filling a single bucket takes about 5 – 7 minutes.

I will never pick up all the pinecones in my yard. I have SEVEN Douglas Firs (okay okay, they’re fir cones) and, typically, no one else in my family gives a flying hoo-hah about the dang pinecones. Which means there’s an endless supply. I will literally never run out of pinecones to put in my little stress bucket.

After I’ve filled and emptied my bucket one, two, three times, I usually feel a minor sense of accomplishment. Maybe there’s a pinecone-free square foot of grass. But more likely there’s the sense of satisfaction from getting away from computer and doing something outside with my hands. Something that is unimportant, likely even un-noticeable. It’s a Sisyphean task that, instead of being crazy-making, is somehow the exact opposite. 

Working in HR (let’s be real, working at just about anything) there are lots of opportunities to feel like you have no control and like things are piling up. I hope that everyone has their own version of my little stress bucket that they fill with their own version of pinecones to help them breathe and make space.