Daily Archives: April 17, 2013

Operation: Stress Relief is going swimmingly so far. It’s not quite a full fledged operation yet, and surely it will be a work in progress for a long time, but you know I always love a good project and what’s more fun than making your mental health a project? (HA. SO MANY THINGS! SO MANY THINGS ARE MORE FUN!)

I’ve been trying to be a little bit easier on myself. I’ve started and ended my days this week with some walks and it is amazing what 60 minutes of alone time (well, alone-with-dog-time) and nature can do to calm my hamster wheel of a brain.

Sometimes just removing yourself from all of this Life Stuff that feels so important and being quiet with yourself makes you realize that your day job, or the demands of blogging, or your skirt size, or the amount of money in your bank account aren’t the ONLY things worth thinking about.

I’ve been trying to balance work with self-care. Impromptu haircuts, dog snuggles, afternoon naps, ordering salads to-go even though I have all the ingredients in my fridge just so I can have a little bit of free time — all of these things have felt like little presents to myself in the past week.

I’ve also been doing lots of reading about stress and hormones, because that’s what I do. I like information. It calms me. And when I’m looking to learn something new — about the world or about myself — there is no place I like to turn more than inside the pages of a brand new book. I’m completely in love with everything about this book and want to buy it for everyone I know. But then I would be that weird friend who hands out hormone books, and I’m not quite ready to be that friend just yet.

I’ve been making an effort, little by little, to reach out to those friends I love too. Weeks of being behind in email were taking it’s toll and I’m committed to getting out of that cycle, because good friends are so, so SO important.

Mostly I’m just kind of meandering. And despite that fact that my Inner Control Freak usually hates that feeling, I’m trying my hardest to just get comfortable in my discomfort. Just holding steady and trying to find my way.