Wanted to pop in and say hello! Hmmm, how to manage stress – not the title you expected to see after a long vacation, right? It’s been a wild two weeks and I’m still trying to navigate through our new school schedule, which started as soon we got back in town. Our schedule is a different kind of demanding than last year, so there’s lots of adjusting. I’m also writing a mini recap post from our travels, so stay tuned on that.
I’m really working on patience on how to manage our chaotic days in a simple and positive way. Right now we have a lot of changes and kids coming/going in different shifts/locations plus other big things going in our life, so I currently feel more ping pong ball than human.
Whether you work inside the home or outside, life can get busy and stressful. It can be easy to lose your sense of peace when things start to feel a overwhelming or out of control. When life gets this way for me, I eat carbs try to step back and take a deep breathe, then take it one moment at a time. If I think too far ahead, I can get anxious or feel like giving up. Or both, which can get ugly (“no one bother me while I face dive into this pan of brownies!”). I found this list below on pinterest and wanted to share in case you might find it helpful. This was one of those random “pinterest recommended” pins, which I usually don’t like….but maybe my computer could feel the anxiety in my fingertips. I know this list might seem a little silly, and certainly not bullet points you would review with a colleague over lunch, but it’s a helpful reminder to privately check-in with yourself.
No, I would never have time to do this daily, but I like the list as a reminder. One of the points that really spoke to me was “I had a moment of being real with someone.” It made me feel better knowing that it’s totally normal to have a need for “realness” or real conversation in my day versus a series of small-talk exchanges. I always feel much more satisfied if I can enjoy an authentic interaction. As much as I love my kids, I totally need time to recharge my mental batteries.
Also found this short but great article on how to handle worry or anxiety, which stems from the same list above. Good stuff!
“The real self is beyond conflict; it is whole and at peace. So the long-term approach to anxiety is to rise above the inner war to find a self that is more whole.” ~ Deepak Chopra
*Tomorrow I’ll be back with some Wednesday White inspiration, and then on Thursday I’ll share the 7 ways I manage stress.
I‘m Seleta, a city girl living the beach life with my family. A former TV personality turned designer, I love to share the sparkly side of life. Read more 
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Thanks, Seleta. I find myself becoming anxious more often the older I get, so I am going to try to utilize some of these thoughts/tips. When I had all four of my children still living at home, I could only cope if I dealt with it day by day (not always possible, but I tried)! I hope you are having a great day even with all the chaos :)
Very helpful, though I think I would ignore the negative list and just check the positives – why beat yourself up? I enjoy your “inspirational” posts. When you posted that you had set a goal to go back to ballet, I was inspired to go back to playing piano. I’m definitely not in “piano shape” anymore, and it’s pretty discouraging not to play at the level I used to. But piano certainly seems more doable than ballet…
Thank you so much for writing this post and for including the link to the article and checklist. This really helped me today, and I think this is something I will pass along to others. I’m so glad that I came across it.