Stop The Ride, I Wanna Get Off

    Being in control of your life and having realistic expectations about your day-to-day  
    challenges are the keys to stress management, which is perhaps the most important    
                           ingredient to living a happy, healthy and rewarding life.
                                                                                                                                                                ~Marilu Henner


Stress management. I would like to find the person who coined this phrase-sit them down and explain Life to them. That is Life with a capitol "L". I know that I am supposed to manage stress, that I am not SUPPOSED to let stress manage me. Butt I live in reality and sometimes reality is really just too much.  Days for example where if I bite my tongue any harder, I am apt to bite it off. Days when the filter between my brain and my mouth is on the verge of disintegrating and I may just speak out loud the words I have been holding back or fighting back which is usually the case. Days that are spent handling and doing and making decisions and facing problems and issues that all seem to happen at the same damn time, regardless if I want them or not. Sound familiar?  Like right now I have a bunch of little annoyances that need attention, little on their own but when put together a big mess. There is a list of things a mile long that I need to do.  A couple of major life things that I need to face and take care of. Appointments to schedule, meetings to attend to and work 45 hours a week at the same time. 


 Ever feel like holding your hands up and yelling "Stop the Ride...I Wanna Get OFF!!" 

Ever have one of those days where you keep looking to  the sky to see if it is a full Moon?  When you look around you and wonder- is it you or has the whole world gone crazy? Even the most laid back take life as it comes people, have days like this. I love the quote "I try to take life one day at a time, but they all seem to attack at once".  Sometimes life can get so overwhelming, so stressful- that you really don't even know where to start. You feel so completely boxed in that your muscles clench, your blood pressure goes up and it takes the simplest thing to push you right to the edge.  So what do you do or not do?  There are some people I know that just shut down and refuse to deal with it. Some drink, some exercise, some yell into pillow and shake their fist at the sky. While a temporary relief maybe, none of these really solve anything. 


So how do you manage your stress? 

A few tricks I have learned- Don't sweat the small stuff. Pick your battles wisely. Not everything is worth fighting for. Take deep breathes. Count to 10. Think before you speak. Walk away. Make a list. Set YOUR priorities. Stay true to yourself. Breathe.  One thing at a time. Trust yourself and your instincts. Ask for help. (I am so not good at this but I try) If it's a problem that you have had for years, just be done with it. Face it, deal with it and move on. Don't let fear hold you back. Face what needs to be faced. Find your voice and handle it. Know that its ok to set the stress down for awhile. To take a break to get your strength back. Then get back up and handle your business. 

Remind yourself this:  Many of the greatest achievements in the world were accomplished by the tired and discouraged who kept on. Live. Love. Dream. Make it happen. Don't give up.