Handling Stress

How do I handle stress?

Saturday....Ah!  A day of relaxation, right?  Well, here is a recap of my Saturday so far....

Woke up to my 4-year old's sweet voice, "Momma, is it a school day? Why are you still sleeping; the sun's up. I want pancakes. I think the dogs want to go outside. Wake up, Momma! I'm going to put my butt in your face until you wake up!" Oh, the joys of parenthood.

So, I finallly stumble out of bed, after having butt in my face, with dogs jumping on me, and I get to the kitchen to ask Elias what kind of cereal he wanted (pancakes were not an option at this point anymore). After asking Elias 472 times, he finally decided on a cereal to eat. I pour the bowl full of cereal, open the fridge, and guess what? No milk! Well, pick something else, Elias. After a cereal bar and some chips (upon his request), I got us both dressed to go to the gym, walking in the gym a minute before Zumba began (which is not good for my Type A personality). Zumba was awesome, as always, and immediately my Zumba instructor acknowledged  the fact that I was "slimming down" and pushed through the class to give me a big hug! That certainly changed my mood for the day. However, once Zumba was over, I picked up my kid, went grocery shopping, made homemade gluten free stromboli to take to my sister with Celiac Disease and niece with Autism, drove an hour to my family's house, picked up a new-to-me couch set, drove back another hour, moved furniture in the house, dropped off old ones to charity, gave the kid his antibiotics, dropped the kid off to his Mimi, returned moving equipment, and all the while I AM STRESSED OUT BECAUSE I WAS RUNNING OUT OF TIME TO GO GET MY BOWL AND WRITE MY BLOG ABOUT STRESS!!!  Yes, I was stressed because I had no time to write about my stress!!! Well, when I got to GG, I was welcomed by my wonderful staff who was all very happy to see me (at 9:00), because they were very worried I was going to skip (they know better). At that point, I pulled out my iPad, ordered a glass of One Hope cabernet, and began working on this blog as I waited on my food to cook.

Here's the deal. I have never, ever, been good at handling stress, but as I'm getting older, I have formed better ways of coping with it. When I was in college, I stayed stressed out. I was an overachiever, straight A student, dean's list every semester, but I really worked well under pressure. After college, when I used my degree to be a professional mixologist (AKA Bartender), I handled stress in really unhealthy ways. I drank, a lot, no moderation here.  I used drinking as a way to self-medicate. I had been diagnosed with Anxiety Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder in high school, and have always really struggled with these disorders. After Elias came into the picture, the drinking stopped, but I was exposed to a whole new world of stressors - being a new mother, in graduate school, moving, and working two jobs. I could not medicate through drinking, so I began seeing a mental health therapist for individual counseling and also began talking both anti-depressant and anxiety medications. 

When I made a vow earlier this year, I promised myself that I would learn to be healthy again in all ways: mentally, physically, and emotionally. I took myself off the medication, changed my diet (as my weight gain had added even more stress), and joined the gym on my 32nd birthday in January.  I have gone to the gym consistently since I joined. It has been really rewarding, and I am seeing the results in my physical and mental health, as it is very meditative. Another thing that I did this year that has helped me regulate my stress, is I began playing my flute again.  A long, long, time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I was a music major, studying classical flute performance.  While being a music major was stressful (for five years of college), when I play for myself, it has always been very meditative as well. When I am in my zone, and playing my flute, nothing else exists outside of my music. Finally, doing something fun with my little boy always helps me to forget about the stress.  I was blessed with a Type B child, and he keeps his Type A momma in check.  Sometimes you just have to stop to smell the roses, and forget about the 15 kids you have to write psychological reports on before the end of next week.  Last year, I also took my job home with me a lot, and being a school psychologist is a highly stressful field of work.  That stopped immediately, because I brought my stress from work home and my family suffered from it, or were completely ignored by me.

So, am I stressed that I am competing with 120 other people with a chance to win $10,000? Nah! Now, I'm not saying that I don't want to win. Who wouldn't want/need $10K?  But I'm not letting that stress me out at all.  As far as I am concerned, I am already a winner, a broke winner, but still a winner.  I have won 60 free meals, a bunch of cool GG swag, and I have won new friendships both with my GG staff and with my fellow khantestants.  I am going to get this weight off, and I have made very positive changes that will stay with me for life, and THAT makes me a winner.  I used to always get stressed about having enough time in my day, but now, I know that you just have to make the time in your schedule.  Life is too short to be stressed.

And now, I am less stressed since I finished my homework, finally.

I'll leave you with a quote from a hometown hero, you probably know...

Sometimes when people are under stress, they hate to think, and it's the time when they most need to think.
William J. Clinton