Adulting can be fu%#ing hard!! ??
Stick with me here… this isn’t just me having a pity party (although admittedly I have done a bit of that the last few days), but this DOES have a positive spin and a happy ending ??
So this week has been hectic (OMG is it OnLy Tuesday?!). It’s year end at work and buuuuuusy; I have one fitness group wrapping up and another one just starting up (but I love love love everything about that ??); the usual kids’ activities; a “bonus” snow day ❄️❄️ for the kids today that kinda threw me for a loop when I had wanted to get into work early this morning – shovelling, figuring out a plan for the kids… Nothing extraordinary – just the usual business of life but a little “more” than usual this week and I’m feeling it.
And I could feel the anxiety in my body today – feeling irritable, knots in my stomach and my head felt like it was going to explode. ??
If you’re still with me… keep on reading… I’m not complaining or looking for sympathy; really, I’m going somewhere with this! I’m just expressing what was going on because people often say to me “You always seem to have it so together. I don’t know how you do it.” And I just want to share that I DON’T always have it all together. I struggle some days just like everyone else.
BUT… what I have learned in the last year or so on this journey of mine is that GRATITUDE and the right ATTITUDE can totally reduce stress and anxiety. Studies have actually shown that cultivating gratitude is one of the simplest ways to reduce stress and increase your overall happiness. I am BEYOND BLESSED in my life. I have so much to be thankful for and some days when I start feeling overwhelmed I just need to stop and remember my blessings. I have two beautiful, healthy, amazing children; my parents and friends are SO helpful; I have not one but two jobs that I am grateful for and that allow me to pay the bills and have this beautiful roof over our heads.
In the past, I would have let the stress of these last couple days get to me and continue to fester and I’d get more and more worked up and irritable. But now, another thing I am getting better at is AWARENESS. Aware that I was feeling stress and anxiety and that I needed to do something to snap out of it. I wanted to come home and be present with the kids and not be fretting over the 10 million things I still have on my to do list (ok, still working on the exaggeration ??).
So, before I left the office, I took a moment to be grateful and to acknowledge that all my “issues” that were stressing me out are really teeny tiny things in the grand scheme of life and especially compared to the concerns that many other people are dealing with. I counted my blessings and then…
THEN… I cranked this baby up on the drive home!! ?? Works every time ??
In all seriousness though, perspective is always a good thing and sometimes it really is necessary to give yourself a good slap and remind yourself to not sweat the small stuff.
