How Do You Deal With Stress?

The North Beach at Sandy Hook, NJ

I stress, you stress, we all stress. When I am stressed I usually have one of two reactions. Either my eye starts twitching or I get hives. Neither of these reactions are much fun.

Last week was a difficult one. One family member underwent major surgery. Daughter #1 and her beloved celebrated their her first wedding anniversary at our house. (We were going to have a cookout, but--of course--it rained.) The edits for Patriot’s Courage arrived with a ton of things to fix. After three tries, hubby and I failed to find a pair of shoes that fit his mother. Then I learned my cousin, who is only four years younger than I am, had open heart surgery. And there were no more Christening caps for baptisms at our church.

Of course, some folks have things far worse and many people point out that I am technically retired. Most days it doesn't feel like I'm retired.

At any rate, I was busy. I dove into the edits whenever I could. I planned a very simple gathering for the small anniversary celebration so that wasn't really a problem. I crocheted whenever I could--in the car, while visiting our family member, or while visiting my mother-in-law. I finished four caps that way.

The week ended well. Our family member is recuperating well from the surgery. The party was delightful. I just printed out the manuscript so I can see if everything is fixed. Yesterday morning we went to another shoe store and found a pair of shoes that not only fit my mother-in-law, but that she likes. My cousin will be staying with her folks until she's well.

But I'm itchy. Red welts have appeared in several location on one leg. I'm hoping that since things have calmed down, the rash won't spread. The bright spot is that my eye isn't twitching. 😉

There were a few things that would have calmed me last week that I didn't take the time to do, mostly because I didn't have any time. If I had taken a walk at the beach or in the park, I would have felt better. If I had taken the time to paint or draw, it would have settled my mood.

Prayer would have helped, too. Not that I didn't pray, but my prayers were quick and desperate. I didn't sit still and spend much time with the Lord. I find meditative prayer far more effective for me.

How do you deal with the stress in your life?

Writing It Down

I bought a new journal this week. I have kept a journal for a long time. I was inspired as a child after I read Anne Frank's story. While I do not write in it everyday, for the most part I faithfully record all the major events in my life as well as feelings, disappointments, and dreams. Every year of my life has presented me with stress or one kind or another. (Just like everyone else on the planet.) 😉 On occasion, I reread some of my journal entries and it makes me a bit depressed, but I remind myself I have survived the crises I've been handed so far. I pray for the strength to handle the next crisis, whatever it might be.

After talking with a friend, it occurred to me that maybe the journaling actually has been helpful for me. My friend does not keep a journal. She has suffered through some extremely stressful events, but she tends to dwell on them. She doesn’t write them down. She continually goes over and over the incidents. She never lets them go.

I realized for the most part, I do not dwell on past traumas--not always anyway. True, the problems don’t go away, but I move on—or my pen does at the very least, usually to the next problem. Still, the actual writing seems to be cathartic. It’s not that I don’t remember the difficulties after I record them—it’s just that somehow I forget the sequence—even if the events pile up one on top of another as they usually do.

Journaling is a very good thing according to the article below:

http://psychcentral.com/lib/2006/the-health-benefits-of-journaling/

So if you’re feeling stressed, write it down--with a pen on paper--you know, the old-fashioned way. Even if you don’t become a romance author--which might be a good thing--you could be doing yourself a big favor.

What I Did to Stop My Eye Twitch

The other day, my left eye started to twitch. This has happened to me many times in the course of my life. It's caused by stress and since it's been a stressful year, this problem isn't surprising. But it drives me crazy.

I put warm compresses on my eye. That only helped temporarily. I put warm and then cold compresses on it. Again, relief was short lived. I put eye drops in the eye and found somewhat longer relief, but the twitching returned.

I massaged my eye. That didn't do much good at all, but then I'm not much of a masseuse.

Finally, I decided to take a vacation--sort of. I opened up a book I wrote during another stressful time of my life, THE FIEND OF WHITE BUCK HALL. It is full of action, suspense, magic, paranormal feats, and sex. (For those of you who are horrified at that last activity, the two individuals engaging in sex are married. Within the bonds of marriage, sex is a good thing. Trust me on that.)

I unloaded the dishwasher, put in a small load of laundry, cooked a simple supper, rode my recumbent bike for thirty-one minutes, but for the most part I devoured the book in one fell swoop.

It felt good. My eye stopped twitching. Problem solved.

I highly recommend this book if you are undergoing stress in  your life and if your eye starts twitching.

The book wound up with an unfortunate cover, but I made a clever little book video which offers a more engaging look into the story. Enjoy.

You can find the book at http://a.co/0TAs1GL