Shooting Range — The New Spa?

Have you ever had one of those days?  The ones where it seems that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong?  Nothing goes well at work, your significant other breaks up with you via a text message, and when you get home your pet has decided to use your bed as a toilet.  A family member calls with bad news. You find our your ex is engaged.  I think you get the picture.

Now, what would you normally do after a day, or week, or month like this?  Maybe head home, take a bath and open up a bottle of wine.  Or dive into that ice cream that’s in the fridge.  Or, perhaps, head to the spa?  Now, these are nice ideas and all, and we admit sometimes they hit the spot, but what about when they don’t? Or when it’s not relaxation, in the typical sense, you need.  Sometimes you want to take your frustrations out on something.  While we don’t condone violence, we do encourage you to get out to the range and go shooting!

There’s a few things shooting does that’s similar to, for example, taking a yoga class, cooking, or anything that requires all of your attention and leaves you feeling relaxed and de-stressed.

It requires nearly all of your concentration while you’re doing it. Why?  Because the number one thing about shooting is safety, which means that you won’t be able to think about your bad day at work, that break-up text, or your dirty house.  You have to think about many things while shooting, from your stance to your aim to your grip.  And if your braincells are not on all the moving parts, your shooting practice will suffer.

You can shoot, figuratively of course, whatever is causing you stress. If it helps you to see something on the target, you can either write it on the target or visualize it there. (But please, do this only with things or abstract concepts.  We do not, in any way, shape, or form, condone violence against other human beings.)  One great “tool” for this is old lipstick!  We all have those old tubes of that color we bought back in the early ’90s (remember Vamp?) that are sitting, unused, in our makeup drawers. Next time you go to the range, take it along and write a word of phrase on your target.  See how it makes you feel.  Does it help you let go of a grudge or release some of the stress that’s been bringing you down?  Do you somehow feel relaxed afterwards? GREAT!

You might even out-shoot your man! Finally, as you practice more, your aim will improve, and you’ll gain more confidence in your shooting and overall.  Let’s be honest, being a woman who knows how to shoot is incredibly empowering.  The first time you and a guy go to the range and you do better than he does feels awesome.

Now, we admit, having our own girly ways to de-stress are fun, but why not throw going to the shooting range in the mix for a new form of catharsis.   Schedule a “Shooting and Martinis” or “Range Date and Manis/Pedis” afternoon with the gals (and if you want to be reminded why you do the manis after, read this article).  Who knows, maybe the gun range will become your new spa!