So it's been nearly ten days since my last post, and I'm sorry for that, but here's to the second idea of three: stress reduction.
I don't mean the fact that we humans as a whole have a lot of stress in our lives. I think that's pretty obvious. I also think it quite rational that we should do our utmost to reduce the amount of stress we're exposed to in our daily routines. I'm sure you'd agree... there are hundreds of studies related to stress and its cumulative effect on disease and other such nasty things.
But, no. This post is more about ways of effectively dealing with stress, because I've had to learn a lot about it in the last little while.
We have a new dishwasher at work (person, not machine), and he's a little slow. But hey, he's learning. However, in the meantime, I walk into huge messes in the morning that normally wouldn't be there. One day there were stacks of dishes on the counter that were level with my head.
Overwhelmed is too small a word. I wanted to sit down and cry. But you can't do that.
So I shoved my head down, threw some music on, and ploughed ahead. The pile went down. So did my stress level.
Basically, I've come to the conclusion that stress reduction is vital to one's sanity. Sometimes important tasks are sacrificed or postponed in favor of wasting time. But I think that wasting time relaxing your mind and body is productive.. now there's an oxymoron.
I've just been thinking about this because of work, and my family's crazy schedule, and some conversations I've been having with a few friends. Comparing strategies to reduce stress and finding what works for other people is super interesting to me.
It goes everywhere, from music to sports to food. Sitting on front of our wood stove for 15 minutes before bed every night is probably my favorite. But I've found something else that really, really works. For me.
You know those chronic 'listers'? People who write EVERYTHING down, who are seemingly so organized and together? Well, I'm sort of turning into one of those.
One of our teachers at Bible School put shape to an idea that I was already familiar with but never realized it. He explained the purpose of journaling... or at least, explained it better.
The concept is not so much about just expressing your feelings through writing. It's about communicating, with yourself just as much as with others should you so choose.
It's about goals and memories, anger and happiness.
But the revolutionary idea is that when you write something down, you leave it behind. List writers write lists so that they don't have to remember. Journaling is very similar.
Because when you write something down, you can leave it on the paper. Walk away from it. Doesn't mean that the emotion or problem or whatever it may be has disappeared - but what is does mean is that you don't have to carry it around any longer.
That is essentially what this blog is. A journal where I write thoughts, albeit in a very public format. But you know, that's okay. I made the decision for this to be public because I want people to understand who I am and how I think. What I believe and why. Maybe challenge their opinions and views. Maybe challenge mine.
Before I post things, I think about them for weeks on end - but I find that when I post them and discuss my thoughts with myself, when I click the "Publish Post" button and consider it done, the stress and worry that these thoughts bring upon me - just from constantly thinking and analyzing - are greatly diminished, if not gone altogether.
So far, that's the best stress reducing technique I've ever seen or had the pleasure to take advantage of. So I thought I would share what works for me, because maybe it'll work for you. Take your worries and problems and write them down, and then make a concious decision to walk away and stop thinking about them. Especially overnight... because they're safe, waiting for you on a piece of paper that you can go back to later, when you're ready to deal with them. But for now, you've dropped ten pounds from your shoulders - doesn't it feel good?
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