On day four of being so sick that getting out of bed is entirely unreasonable…
I need to reduce stress in my life. This pregnancy is kicking my ass and then some. What can I do to reduce stress though? Have I ever had a reduced stress life? What does that look like?
Selling the house is a very passive sort of background stress that I don’t think I can change. The house will stop being “staged” this week sometime. Have I mentioned how much I am looking forward to it? It’s not like I can start living like a slob, but I can leave towels in the bathroom. Hooray!
I need to finish these two classes for my degree. It’s not really an option to put them off.
However, the two exams left for my degree (language proficiency and general comprehensive knowledge of literature) *can* be put off. I can’t graduate this year no matter what. (I wasn’t enrolled early enough to file for candidacy anyway.) So if I take those two exams next year then I have a lot more time to study and a lot less on my plate in the next 7 weeks. Trying to be fully ready for the exams in the next 7 weeks would probably result in a lot of anxiety, stress, and sleep less nights. I don’t think the Lizard is up for it.
Other than two classes and selling the house all I have to deal with are baby prep classes, midwife visits (every two weeks now), therapy, pictures with Chris, and acupuncture. Alright, there is still a bunch of driving around, but it isn’t super stressful driving around…
Wow. Ok, maybe my life is lower stress now. I don’t think I recall having this little to do since oh… 2003?
My live has never been like that- I’ve never been pregnant, for starters- but I HAVE had to reduce stress. Here’s what worked for me:
Sitting down every so often (every morning? Once a week? whatever works for you) and listing out what I need. It seems like more stress, but because it lets you relax about things you don’t need to worry about right then, it helps (me) relax.
Take a moment every day to relax. Spent five minutes standing in a quiet room, or sitting on the couch, or lying in bed, and just focus on relaxing and clearing your mind.
Take some time to talk to old friends, watch a movie, whatever. For me, this is much more destressing when I make sure that there’s nothing else going on. The trick here is to MAKE SURE, so that your mind can relax.
Good luck!
I’m up against some of the same issues for different reasons. A lot of the physical stuff I’m experiencing these days is clearly either caused or exacerbated by stress. But I have no more idea how to live a stress-free life than I do how to live a normal life. I never have, I don’t know how to, and I really don’t even want to; I just sort of have to. You’re younger and more malleable than I am — maybe you’ll figure it out.
Recently Noah and I have discussed more than once that it would be nice if we could do ‘x’ and his response is always, “But we will never have time because you always keep yourself too booked to even consider doing something that takes regular time.” I always feel a bit chagrined when he says this–cause in the time he has known me he is right. I didn’t *used* to be this busy/stressed/booked for months and years at a time.
I kind of miss being able to pursue new hobbies. I haven’t been able to in years. Hell, I don’t keep up with the hobbies I currently profess to be interested in.