Stress Mess

Stress is the catalyst for so many issues in life. Sure there are exercises, foods, self help books/dvds, and a myriad of other products and articles that tell you how to live a stress free life. But can we really avoid being stressed? The lifestyle and society we live in today, is it even possible to live a life where stress isn't part of the daily thought?

This crossed my mind today as my always dependable car wasn't so dependable this afternoon. As it stuttered and stalled, then completely shut itself down with no warning. I thought to myself, "really, you're going to do this to me NOW! Honestly, haven't enough things gone completely wrong for me? great one more thing for me to worry and STRESS about!?!?" I've broken down emotionally too many times in the last two years in tears, hysteria, and panic attacks. Todays snafu was just another drop in the "my life sucks" bucket. My pregnancy hormones must have been absent today, otherwise I would've been balling my eyes out about another crappy issue.

This today, could've just set me off into being depressed and stressed for the remainder of the day. But, I have this blog to vent, thus I spent all that pent up frustration making my stressed graphic for today's blog entry. Of course, being stressed out about the situation wasn't going to get me anywhere either. High stress levels can make blood pressure rise, blood glucose rise, and probably a domino effect on to other health related issues. And we all know, that I don't need any additional health issues at the moment. Sorry, my plate is full, please move on to the next person. Plus, babies in the womb are very receptive to the mother's emotions and emotional state. Ya, I don't want to pop out a baby who is already predisposed to being a "stress ball."

If I try my best to avoid stressful situations, they still fall in my lap. What's a girl to do? With bills, money issues, health issues, family drama, husband's employment issues, and just plain life in general problems, do you blame me for not being able to fall asleep? Sure, I can go and do breathing exercises, eat a bowl of blue berries, or Zen out somewhere, but at the end of the day it doesn't solve the issues that stress me out. I know life isn't easy because my life has never been easy. It's only been complicated, I just sometimes wish it would ease up a bit and give me break.

Of course there is always perspective. The upside today was that I wasn't stranded, I stalled out before I even left the neighborhood parking lot, and my uncle hopefully can help me fix it. Sure, sometimes we all have our self pity moments, but there are always people who are much worse off. I always remind myself of this every time I feel hopeless. I can spend my time stressing about stuff, but it doesn't help solve my problems. I'm also lucky enough to have a supportive group of people around me, not everyone has that.

Tomorrow is another day, it'll bring challenges & solutions, but all I can do is deal with each day as it comes :) Focusing on enjoying the smaller moments in a day that make me smile, like playing patty-cake poke with the little man inside of me.