Oh, The Stress Of It All

Oh, The Stress Of It All

Well - we found a buyer for our home and had less than 5 weeks to both find a suitable home and move into it. Once we signed that contract it was weeks of sleepless nights, restless tummy, fretful mind, sweaty palms and frazzled hair.

Was I stressed? ...You bet I was !!! 

Many of you already know that I suffer from an anxiety disorder; stress affects me physically causing rashes and vomiting, and I easily fall into depression. With moving being one of the most stressful things a person can go through, I knew I would have to use more than a few tranquilizers to get through the storm to come. 

By using calming, meditative music and occasionally some blues or 70's music during the day I was able to greatly reduce the stress I was feeling, and the dogs love to nap to music. To quiet the mind at night I've begun listening to short audio books via YouTube - these are especially helpful on those sleepless nights. 

Long showers helped ease the physical ache, while great big cups of tea or plain hot water helped ease the tummy, and hot water bottles to ease the aching knees, hips, elbows and shoulders. 

Speaking about positive things reduces energy spent on negative issues. 

Dave and I started to talk about all the good things, the hopeful, bright, happy things no matter how small they might be. The flower we saw, the plant we rescued, the benefits we see, the kind gesture we witnessed, the good things to come...

Thinking of 5 simple things to be grateful for on a daily basis when I woke and again when I went to bed as I tried to drift off to sleep... this was so very helpful for resetting the mind to a more positive position.  

Breathe

Short, but frequent, sessions of deep breathing helped bring awareness to my tight ribs and shallow breaths. 

Those brief sessions involved slowly counting each breath (breathe out 1-2-3-4, breathe in 1-2-3-4). That simple action helps relax the tense muscles and is mentally refreshing. One of the tricks for combatting insomnia comes in handy for stress too. This involves counting 100 breaths and then counting 100 breaths backwards (100, 99, 98...) helps refocus the mind and end those relentless, repetitive thoughts cycling around. If you loose count, start again. This makes your mind focus on just this one repetitive task and acts like a reset button for the brain.

Oh those stupid, grumpy slumps

When stressed, it is really easy to become irritated and grumpy, or fall into depression and exhaustion. We humans tend to find fault everywhere we look, or get angrier at a small thing that we would normally have the strength to brush off. During the quiet moments we get the joy of our minds beating ourselves up for all those shortcomings that we noticed. Our frustration mounts and this can grow into a huge issue if we let it. 

Therefore when I feel irritated, grumpy, depressed and exhausted - I know that it is so very important to take that time, that quiet moment, to refocus my mind, refresh the body and be grateful - thankful - for the good things. 

~~~   

Follow & Find Books: 

on Amazon

Visit: 

Drum It With Brummet Blog

Subscribe: 

Brummet Media​ YouTube Channel​ ​

~~~