I am heading into some of the busiest weeks of my life thus far: I write my final real estate exam at the end of May and the space between now and then is going to be a little NUTS.
I plan to actively ignore my children and husband as I thrust my face in the books and try to ram the entire contents of the course into my gray matter. Six weeks. I have hired a sitter to come a couple afternoons a week so I can be guaranteed some tantrum-less hours of quiet, but aside from that I’ll be moonlighting as a student once the kids are in bed every night. The course has been surprisingly challenging and there’s so much to master before I write the test. Gah. I get anxiety diarrhea just thinking about it.
And here is what stress looks like on me: big, juicy pimples on my forehead, canker sores in my mouth, and bloodied cuticles from the relentless nail-biting. Also, lots of yelling at loved ones. Good times all around, basically.
I know there are all these things one can do to help ease stress, like ensure a proper night’s sleep (hahahaaaa), make time to exercise and eat right (I’m giving it an honest try), meditate (yeah, no) and ask for help when she needs it (I am going to give myself permission to let the house go completely to pot and, as a reward for passing my exam, I shall hire a housecleaner for a day and let her pick of the pieces of our mayhem).
How do you deal with stress in your life? If you say, “I get so stressed I can’t eat and I lose weight!” I am going to drop-kick your jugular. It will be a big stress reliever for me, I imagine.
exercise, walk the dog, really helps with stress.
Coffee & wine. Run around like a chicken with my head cut off. I’ve been wanting to meditate for a long time but so far I haven’t managed to make that happen. Yoga is great for stress relief but hard to squeeze in. Back to the chicken.
I totally get snappish, and either can’t sleep or can’t stay awake, equally unhelpful. I chew the insides of my cheeks, and then fret that I’m giving myself even more wrinkles. I write cryptic, cranky facebook statuses. The past few months have sucked around here, so I feel your pain – I’m hoping we are just turning the corner, because really, in the end, that’s how I get through it – by keeping my sights on the fact that it has to get better after this next thing. Or maybe the one after that. Or some time.
I repeat over and over to myself (in my head, of course), “It always seems impossible until it’s done”. That was my mantra for the past year at work and it actually helped me get through some seemingly insurmountable tasks.
All of my other methods of coping involve hiding from my problems and/or eating treats, so yeah… they’re not particularly helpful.
Umm. I cry.
And then I try to tackle a few things at a time with a bit of delegation.
But hey, I never tried to learn anything hard while my kids were little. I am impressed.
When i get stressed i do any of the following:
1) tackle my to-do list like a bat outta hell on speed!
2) avoid my to-do list and plant in my garden
3) take on a ‘my way or the highway’ mentality and take control because clearly nobody else knows how to do it.
4) curl up in a ball and cry
5) take a gravol to make myself sleep
yep, i’m pretty sure that none of these are healthy
Pray!
When I’m stressed I don’t eat as well and I – wait, before you kick me – drink more. Coffee during the day, wine later on. That’s the tendency I try to fight anyway. I know what’s good for me. Get the exercise, drink WATER, you know the drill. It’s the doing it part that’s hard.
Good luck with the exam! It sounds like you’ve got a clear idea what it’s going to take to study and what’s going to have to give. The babysitter idea is awesome (as is the housekeeper plan).