Dealing with Stress

No matter how much I strive to have my life be a well-oiled machine, sometimes a gear gets off track and throws everything off.

Example:  We renovated our entire house and pretty much turned our pockets inside out to pay for it.  Just as we were finishing and trying to rebuild our savings, we got a huge tax increase and a tenant decided to move out in the middle of his lease.  The gears were officially off the track.

It took everything within me not to just go to bed and never emerge from my blackout curtain-draped bedroom.  When I was done feeling sorry for myself, my husband and I sat down and wrote out a plan to fix our problems.  I contacted all of the old applicants for the apartment and it turned out one was still interested and they quickly signed a lease.  Check, off the list.  Next, we decided to refinance to bring down our payments and make the tax hike less brutal.  Partial check - still in progress.

During these ordeals, I had to really work to deal with my stress.  While I wanted to give up, I obviously couldn't do that - I have a baby, husband, career.  I couldn't sit around feeling like the victim because that didn't solve any of my problems.  While we were able to figure out solutions, the stress was still abundant, to say the least.  Here are some tips that I used to stay sane during this situation.

• Exercise - I exercise 2-3 times a week and it helps me work off the stress that aches me.


• Steam room - Along the same train of thought, while at the gym, use the steam room.  Nothing is a better stress reliever than the sauna.


• Write down your problems - When something is getting to me, I write down my problems and make a list of possible solutions.  As I try them, I feel much better just by making progress toward a fix.


• Deep breathing - When the stress is really getting to me, I focus on my deep, slow breaths.  If you've ever taken a Yoga class, you know what I'm talking about.  Taking those deep breaths slows a racing heart and effectively calms you down.


• Talk it out - Sometimes all you need is a good friend to vent to when stress triggers are getting to you.  You never know when someone has been in a similar situation and has sound advice.

What do you do to help deal with stress?

What I listened to while writing:

Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin

America by Imagine Dragons

Lakehouse by Of Monsters & Men