Stress

I'm feeling more than a little on edge this weekend, struggling to unwind after a week of high stress. One would think writing for a living is hardly stressfull, but I have news for you - it is! :-) If I could sit and write whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, there'd be absolutely no mad tension. But writing to deadlines, stomping out emergency fires, re-writing when others change their minds, and still trying to cram knowledge of systems and procedures into the head all at the same time - that's where the stress comes in.

I know this isn't good for me. A desire to decrease stress in my life was what had me looking around for another job at the end of last year. (Well that didn't work! :-) ) It's what has me still considering the long-term dreams I hold, in a light other than climbing corporate ladders.

Stress was a major factor in my mom's developing breast cancer. Stress does things to your body and health that are terrible, potentially life-threatening, irreversibly damaging. Yet we seem to shrug it off as part of life. It's the rat-race we live in, the norm for those who want any kind of success or even yet survival in this day and age.

But I can't help thinking there has to be another way. Surely life is more than this, worth more than sacrificing everything you are to a schedule and demands.

Today I have a to-do list. I have things that are still stressing me out, carried over from the working week. I have other items that demand my attention if I'm to survive beyond the next few months. There's even a stress-related health concern that's stressing me out (vicious circle).

I'm struggling to relax, to chill, to breathe deeply and let go of that tension this weekend. But I know that I have to. And I have to keep doing it, or face hassles years down the line.

It's going to take mindfulness, effort to find ways to release the tension and regain that inner calm. It may require a few lifestyle changes, starting today. But it has to be done. Before it's too late to undo the damage it causes.