It's been a stressful couple of weeks and I want to whine

Warning: this is a therapeutic post -

I am a planner, an organizer, a well balanced emotional kind of girl. (see also: semi-high strung) You guys know this about me, well if you're a new reader you might not, but now you do. It's just who I am. I enjoy being a planner-type, but I do wish I could be a more go with the flow type.

 

For example when life throws me a curve ball, I tend to become very stressed very quickly. I have some stressful things going on in my life right now - most of them you know about. Wrecking my car and having to deal with looking for a new one, planning a wedding in 7.5 months, an overloaded work schedule and now I find out something that makes all those things seem petty. I've debated on whether or not to share this... but I like to keep it real on my blog and this is something that is really happening in my life.

 

We found out last week that my mom has 2 cancer spots on one of her lungs. If you remember from my post here, my mom and I don't exactly have the best relationship. But she's still my mama. I don't agree with a lot of the choices my mom has made in her life, but I'm still her daughter and I still love her. Luckily, they think they can go in with surgery and take out a portion of her lung and she may not even be facing chemo treatments. We don't know all the answers yet. They have done scans to confirm that it has not spread to her brain, which is huge. My mom has smoked off and on her whole life. It's been one of her vices. She would quit for a year or so then start back, but I've always considered her a smoker. Thankfully, her prognosis is good right now we are basically waiting to find out the course of treatment. She's in good spirits, and for once in her life I think she realizes how important her health is. I probably won't mention it a lot other than to keep you posted on anything major.

 

I would consider myself very experienced in managing stress. I have been blessed to have a great life, but it has not been a without many struggles along the way.

 

What I really wanted to touch on today was how to deal with stress. We all have stress in our lives. It can come and go and sometimes it can just wear you down. There are positive and negative reactions to stress. One common negative reaction I have is to eat my feelings. Our negative reactions only make us feel worse and more down on ourselves. Here are some POSITIVE things that help me when I'm trying to eliminate stress or make myself feel better.

 

1. An ass kicking workout - working out is a HUGE stress relief for me. Nothing burns off a bad day at the office like sweating it out in the gym. Unfortunately, I have been slacking very much in this area so I definitely think that's why my stress has felt higher than normal lately.

2. Vent session - I have a few special people in my life who I can tell everything to and they would never judge me. Sometimes it just feels good to get things off your chest and whine about them. Hence, this post :)

3. Pray - I don't go to church every Sunday, but I do pray everyday. I know everyone tends to find religion during a stressful time. It's true that if God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.

4. Keep a positive attitude - It's ok to break down and cry and even feel a little sorry for yourself. But you can't allow yourself to stay in that mindset. Even when you don't feel positive, fake it. I've said before that I'm a big fan of "Fake it until you make it".

 

What are some of your most effective ways to deal with stress?