Feeling Overwhelmed…

The wrapper of my Dove dark chocolate really spoke to me yesterday. It says “You can do anything, but you can’t do everything.” – Shirley K. Maryland.

Lately, I have been overwhelmed to the EXTREME. Ask anyone and they will tell you that I am excellent at multitasking and taking on a lot of responsibility at one time. For instance, starting grad school while planning my wedding and working full time. I even aced my midterm, which was due two days after our wedding. Granted I was only taking one class last semester. This semester has just been, for a lack of a better word, overwhelming. Two classes, work, buying a house, selling a house, and planning our honeymoon…CRAZY!

I am trying to remind myself, daily, to take it one day at a time. That, yes I can do it, but that I don’t need to do it all at once. The buzz phrase these days is self care. And it is so true and so important. Taking time to take care of myself and stepping away from the stress to regroup has really helped. The other night I went home after work and the hubby was out of the house. So instead of cooking and homework (what I normally do every day), I chose to do a face mask, paint my nails, have a glass of wine, and binge on Netflix. It was seriously needed. Just that little bit of a reset has turned my week around.

De-stressing practices that works for me:

• Deep breathing – I wouldn’t go so far as to say meditation…because, let’s face it, I can’t take sitting still not thinking about anything for long periods of time. Just a few long, slow, intentional breaths. In ballet classes ages ago we used to lay down and imagine waves gently crashing over our bodies and taking away tension/stress/sore muscles. I still do this with my deep breaths: In goes the air, out goes the stress.
• Anything that has to do with face masks and skin care. Taking the time to apply, sit, remove a face mask, apply a serum and moisturizer and give myself a good face message in the process is my idea of heaven.
• Read a good (non-fiction) book – Escaping into another fictional world or someone fictional character’s drama is such a treat after staring at chemistry books all day.
• Netflix – just like reading a good book, getting lost in a good show or movie can help me de-stress like none other.
• And if worse comes to worst (or worse…the interwebs can’t actually agree on the proper way to say this…and yes, I did Google it), I clean. Organizing and cleaning make me feel in control of something and when the house is clean all seems right in the world…for at least a minute or two.