Stress

This time of the year is definitely the busiest of the year for our department. Starting next week, I have some sort of distribution and/or celebration every day until I'm off for Christmas break. Which means this week was crazy with last-minute shopping, wrapping, packing, and just basically stressing. And my Capricorn/first-born personality lends itself to being responsible and prepared, and for stressing when things aren't right.

But over the years, I have forced myself to stress less over little things and focus more on finding ways to de-stress when things are busy. Here are a few....

-Drink a cup of hot tea or glass of wine...or coffee..whatever. I think the point is letting yourself sit and take time to do this....you can't drink any of these very fast. I like to have some quiet time.
-Deep breathing. I know this sounds silly, but I find myself stopping just to make myself take a deep breath. I think I learned this in yoga (and in life). It helps so much. I got really frustrated the other day after shopping in Wal-mart for over an hour for our participants. I just stopped in the aisle and took some breaths....telling myself I could get through it (much like I do when I go to a tough exercise class).
-Rest. I truly do everything in my power to get 8 hours of sleep at night. I really don't let anything get in the way of this, and I love having that schedule. I cannot function without sleep.
-Exercise. Though there are stressful days when it's better to sit and relax over working out really hard, I do try to force myself to exercise on days I can. A walk through town totally counts.
-Self talk. Telling yourself you can get through it definitely works for me! Also, if I find myself getting impatient which happens when I'm stressed, I often have to vent and talk it out...this is probably my #1 de-stresser. The key is venting to the right people, not just blabbing your problems to anyone. Other people almost always help me think more clearly. I'm so glad I have friends and co-workers that understand when I'm venting as opposed to when it's just complaining.
-Pray.
-Staying connected as much as possible....I try not to neglect talking to my friends and family on the phone, answering emails, etc. Since most of my close friends are long-distance, this helps me maintain sanity! Also connecting with people face-to-face when I can over sitting secluded in my office with work.
-Taking a break......

I was going to put eating healthy, but I'm not very good at that right now!

How do you de-stress?