Power Monday #8 Eliminate Stress

Hey Guys! So I finally went to the beach this weekend for the first time all summer. I know, there should be a law against that considering I live only an hour away. But on Saturday my mom and I woke-up early and got ready to go. The bad thing was that at 6am it was still 55° outside. So, this is how I dressed: sun-screen, bikini, light long sleeve shirt, sweat pants, and then a zip-up sweatshirt. I hate the cold...as you can tell. When we got down to the beach it was still in the 60s and or maybe 70, but the breeze was whipping and blowing like a crazy man. I was not happy. I had to stay bundled up the whole time until around 12 when it actually got warm out. But by then we were getting ready to leave at 1. So all in all it was a pretty crappy beach trip, but at least I got to feel the sand and touch the (freezing cold) water with my toe. 😉

 

And I don't know if it is just my mom and I but, little kids on the beach...so annoying. We like to sit far back form the crowds so we have some peace but always that never lasts. Since we sit in an open area little kids (boys) come hovering over and start playing catch, kicking soccer balls, footballs, flying kits. It gets dangerous since they are never the most coordinated individuals. My mom has to consisting tell them to back off and move further away so we don't get hit in the face. O the joys of a family beach. But the beach (Seven Presidents) is really nice otherwise. Clean and pretty with good bathrooms too! Haha! I would definitely recommend it if you are ever come to Jersey.

And again I decided to change the Power Monday past I had planned to a topic I think is much more important as of this week. The week I go back to school. I have been dreading this all Summer and Thursday has finally approached out of nowhere. The Summer flew by, especially August. Every time I would look at the calendar I could not believe my eyes. This is crazy and I am not ready to go back, not mentally at least.

So today i wanted to talk about stress. The big elephant in the room that everyone deals with. That varies greatly from person to person. Some handle it well, some even thrive on stress, while others begin to sink into depression, or become completely overwhelmed and shut down. Now of course there is good stress: anticipation for a big event, thrills, exercise, or even fear from watching a horror movie. This is the stress we need and out bodies can handle quit nicely. But then there is the bad weighty stress. The stress that we always work to eliminate or at least try to find the best way to manage. This stress often leads to intense anxiety, trouble sleeping, over or under eating, poor health, headaches, irritability, and depression. Not to mention, extreme stress can shorten your life.

I am no stranger to stress. The summer had been a time where most days we good and relaxing and I did not have to worry about a deadline, schedule, or obligation. But now that the school year and normal life is starting I am already feeling anxiety and the beginnings of unnecessary stress. This is not good and there is no way to Power through you week if you have tons of stress weighing down on you daily.

The stress I tend to heap on myself is feelings of not having enough time, that is number one. I life my life by the clock and feel better when I can follow my schedule to the T and know exactly when I will be doing things. This is bad and leads to missed opportunities and a very unhappy life. It is okay to have a routine, but a strict timed schedule is no way to lead a happy existence. It always leads to arguments and fight with my family which I find the worst part of all. We need freedom in life to more about our days and be a little spontaneous, but I am just not there yet. I do volunteer work but have never held a job, because I would not be able to handle the hours taken away from my days. And I recently have been given a few awesome opportunities for volunteering and working this year that are still in the process of being ironed out but could be really great and beneficial if am able to find time in my schedule and move some things around. I really hope I will be able to take advantage of them, but I will just need to wait and see how this year will play out once school actually begins.

Other forms of stress I deal with are school-work and studying. Now I am not one of those people who studies for 4 hours the night before a test. I manage my time well in this way by studying a bit every night so I don;t cram. However I always feel like the work is so taxing and I get so anxious about getting it done and getting all A's. I signed up for 4 AP classes this year as well as honors. There is no fooling around my senior year! I take pride in my grades but I let unnecessary stress get in the way. Then if I do get one bad grade I feel like it is the end of the world, when really my overall grade will still be an A and my GPA wouldn't suffer. I have to remember this. While I am studying or doing homework is when I cope with stress in a harmful way. I have trichatillomania and pull out my eyelashes and eyebrows while I work. During the Summer I was able to overcome and have now been able to let my eyelashes and eyebrows grow back in. I am very worried that it will start up again once school starts, which it always does. (I will be doing an in-depth post on trich in the future, so I will leave it at that).

So how do I deal with my stress...or at least try to in a good way? I am always trying and it is a huge work in progress. But there are somethings that I find relax me and give me some peace and an escape. Here they are:

1. Reading
2. Blogging/ Blog Reading
3. Drinking tea
4. Cooking a new and involved recipe
5. Working out (weights and yoga...especially yoga!)
6. Emptying the dish washer and trying to keep the kitchen clean (which my family makes it end up being a futile effort)
7. Organizing things and throwing things away
8. Just sitting in a quiet place and thinking

I do many of these things everyday but I still am really struggling with stress. And some of these stress-relievers turn into stress like reading a certain amount of pages in my book everyday, staying up-to-date in the blog world, making sure I have the right foods I need in the house, making sure I have enough time to workout. These things don;t need to be stressful, but I always turn them into stress.

I love tea bag wisdom. And I though this was perfect. Be Heard. I think one of the biggest ways to help deal with stress is to Be Heard. Don;t hold in all bottled up inside. If you are feeling overwhelmed and about to break go and ask for help, let yourself Be Heard. I usually do this a lot myself. I tell my mom pretty much everything and always go to her with my stress and problems. Sometimes it helps but sometimes not. But I do believe it is one of the first steps to successfully managing stress. If you don;t have something to talk to, really try to seek someone out who cares and loves you. If you don;t feel comfortable voicing your stress to someone, write it down. At least get it out on paper, get it out of your system. The worst thing you can do when stress hits is to keep it all to yourself. You need to get it out, release some of it so you don't explode or implode. Scream if you have to! Close your bedroom door and just scream! Your body doesn't have to hold it all in, it can't.

So tell me:

I want to hear from you on this Power Monday about how you handle stress, what you do to find some peace and to share an tips for those of us who struggle. We can Power our week if we help each other out and begin to learn and experiment with ways to eliminate stress.

Don't be shy. I want you all to comment and share your stressors. We don;t have to do this alone!