July 10, 2009 at 11:16 am (Uncategorized)

My intent today was to write a blog solving the newspaper industry’s woes.  That can wait for another day.  A topic presented itself in the past 18 hours causing me to change my mind as my fingers warmed up on the keyboard.  My girlfriend posed a rhetorical question last night…

How much stress can a human endure before crumbling to pieces?

In her case, she is simultaneously dealing with divorce, job change, strep, and lice.  While we were talking, she was looking out the window for a plague of locusts.

I admire her strength and resiliency.

We are all dealing with an unprecedented amount of stress.  Whether caused by economic woes or emotional turmoil, the effects are the same.  How one deals with it is the real question.

Do you go postal?

Do you numb the feelings with alcohol?

Or simply go to the gym?

(Of those, the last is probably the best choice… however, a or three margarita does seem to work for a little while.)

My short-term fix is really loud music.  I mean lowered-boom-box-on-wheels LOUD.  The Mr. has said on more than one occasion “I heard you coming down the street, Jen”  (I don’t have a blown super charged engine in my mini-van.  My muffler isn’t dragging either.)

But the long-term fix?  In the past couple of years I have been faced with some pretty big challenges.  More so than any other point in my life.  And yet, I survive.

I would like to share what works for me.  Maybe it will help you too.

Do the action and the feelings will follow.

On the days when my feelings are getting the better of me, when all I want to do is spend hours crying or breaking things, I get out of bed and proceed through the actions of the day.

Sometimes, I am a mess, a hollow shell of a carcass.  But, as I move through the day DOING… some music here, a conversation with a friend there… by the end of the day I usually accomplish something and it wasn’t so bad.

It is that whole “be in the moment and find something to laugh about” thing I have professed.

I BELIEVE IT, COMPLETELY.  There is something to laugh about regardless of circumstance.

My posse is planning another MNO (mom’s night out).  We are a microcosm of world issues.  After a night of unadulterated laughter and blowing off steam, life won’t seem as hard.

Stress?  What stress?

With Conviction,

JenScribe