Deliberate steps are working...

I've got 20 minutes until my experiment finishes... I'm starving so not a good time to work on that research proposal. Sooo what better time to post a new entry!?! This week was a lot more challenging than last week in many ways, but it was also easier to navigate. Someone sent me an email forward (which I typically don't read) that I found interesting. It correlated a glass of water to stress and went something like this:

Holding a glass of water for a minute is no biggie
Holding that same glass of water in the same position for an hour might cause a cramp
Holding it like that for a day could cause some major issues (and would be down right silly unless you're going for a Guinness world record)

While water is important, I'd rather put it in the context of something I like more...SHOES!!! I've got fierce HIGH heels that I lovingly refer to as my "movie shoes". While I don't exclusively wear them to the movies (in fact I rarely wear them to the movies as most of my movie "dates" are with the kids), I wear them to "sit down" functions. So let's try this again:

Standing in my movie shoes for a minute is no biggie
Standing in them for an hour would cause foot cramps (and shaky heels)
Standing in them for a day would land me in a hospital somewhere!!!

So the gist of the glass of water concept is put it down and rest your arm from time to time. The gist of the shoe analogy is very much the same. At times you gotta put your feet up and rest those babies or better yet, take 'em off!!! The same goes for stress. Sometimes you have to defrag. If your arm would get sore holding the glass and your feet would hurt from wearing the shoes, think about what stress can do to your entire body!?! What a simple concept! And to think it had to be broken down to its simplest form in order for me to not only grasp it, but to embrace it. This week I took off the heels and exhaled. While life's problems did not go away, that made things a lot more bearable.

While I'm still struggling with shutting it down and going to sleep at a reasonable hour, I am going to sleep deliberately (pjs on, glasses off, and laptop resting comfortably on the bedside table). I'm also waking up on time which can be attributed to purposely setting the ridiculously annoying alarm on the clock radio in the bathroom to an equally annoying volume. I still haven't gotten used to it and it scares the bejesus out of me!!! There's no hitting snooze after running (not walking) into the bathroom to shut it off. These changes have made a difference. This morning I found myself getting dressed while singing and dancing to MJB's Family Affair. I'm ready for whatever life brings next week, but in the meantime I look forward to a balanced, productive, and fun weekend! Byeee!!!