Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Ever have one of those days?

Ever have one of those days? The one where you think you would have been better off calling in sick or staying in bed? I'm not a fan of stress. Well, certain types of stress. I'm one of those people that when you tell me I can't do something, I'll prove you wrong. Some people caught on to that early in life----coaches, teachers, instructors, etc. They saw my potential, knew my motivators and used them to their (my?) advantage. Work presents a whole different kind of stress. Co-workers, policies (or lack thereof), ungrateful patients/families, calls where you somehow got yourself in a situation you really shouldn't be in, or the ones where you know its only a matter of minutes til the person in front of you is going to die, even though they are alive and talking to you. I don't always like it, but I can handle all of that. It may not always be handled as well as I'd like to but for the most part I do well under pressure. Which, lets be serious....pressure is a fancy word for stress.

But then there's that whole other kinda stress. The kind you can do nothing about, or so it seems. The kind that keeps you up at night thinking. "How can I make this better?" "Why can't that person change the way the think/act?" "How don't they understand what I'm telling them?" "Why do I feel like I'm getting no support?" I don't do well with this. I'm very successful at replacing sleep with thinking. The downfall is with all that thinking I do, I don't accomplish too much. I rarely come up with any answers to alleviate the stressor. All I do is end up with darker circles under my eyes.

Some of the stressors I know I should just accept and move on. There are things I can't change. But that's much easier said than done. When I had an issue a few years back, a lady told me I had two options: quit or deal with it. I don't quit, usually. I quit on stupid things like going to the gym and eating fruit. But not with school and work and most relationships, although some people view my divorce as the opposite. Sometimes quitting seems like the much easier answer. It would be so easy to just give up on everything, pick up and start over. But the more I review my fairly short adult life, I realize historically, there hasn't been a time that has been stress free. So, my guess is, if I "quit," its only a matter of time til that stress will come from another source.

I have to deal. Its not easy. Especially, when there's a bunch of different stuff to deal with all at once, none of which pertain to another. Don't get me wrong....I'm not naive and won't be taken advantage of. If something is not working and I put forth a reasonable effort to try to make it work, I will have no problems saying its time to move on. Some stressors, just aren't worth making you insane. But, on the other hand, I have to accept there are things I can't change. I have to adapt---make changes and deal, as I was told.

I still think, staying in bed is a much better option I think. My only stress then wondering if Baxter share the bed and pray I don't have to leave my house suddenly in the middle of the night. I get some pretty serious cases of bed head.

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