And Now Part Two

I like being busy.  I like experiencing life.  I like that adrenaline rush jumping from one thing to the next, while still planning future “jumping” at the same time.  In my culture (meaning where I have grown up, which could be very different from the person living next to me), busy-ness equals productivity.  It equals living.  If you aren’t busy, and you don’t have anything to show for it (*cough cough* aka pictures *cough cough*), then you aren’t living.

However, when I am in this adrenaline rush, I am most prone to illness.  Even though I had several plans for this month, very little actually happened.  You see, I was sick at the very beginning of the month with what we thought was a strange allergy, which steadily sucked all the energy right out of me.  I would say it was a sinus infection on steroids, but saying that makes me laugh every time (cause you take steroids sometimes to help sinuses).  I think I spent more time with my head on my desk this month than I have in years.  I would get these bursts of energy and think, “Yes!  Finally over!”, only to find out a couple hours later that I wasn’t quite done being sick.

Even in a healthy month, though, I admit that I don’t ever think I’m busy enough.  It’s probably a lot worse in the summer, watching all my friends take on these fabulous trips, weekend outings, and even spontaneous weeknight events.  It’s not all necessarily just the “fun time” parts of summer either.  I see friends on mission trips and out serving the community, and I ask myself, “Should I be doing that?” or more accurately, “Should I be doing more?”

And allow my struggle to show itself for a moment.  I have been really busy this month, despite my illness.  I helped with our church’s VBS, planned a couple of outings with the husband, hung out with a friend for lunch and pedicures, as well as planning my husband’s big birthday bash at the end of this month.

But today, I stopped myself from the constant wonder at my amount of productivity and activity long enough to really ask, should I be so busy?  Should I have these awesome, inventive plans every day just to experience life?  I started to search through the Bible, and one verse popped right out at me.

“Be still and know that I am God.”

I thought about the story of Mary and Martha, Mary sitting at the foot of Jesus while Martha was busy in the kitchen.  I know I am more of a Martha than a Mary, but shouldn’t that convict me not to chase after a busy life, but instead work towards slowing down and find that place to just be with God?

I know with all the chaos in the world and in my heart, I have even more conviction to pursue stillness in my life.  What has convicted you lately?

Spring Cleaning Part Seven – Undress Your Stress

My mom bought me this book, I think, in college during one of those gift giving times, like birthdays or Christmas.  I’ve always dealt with anxiety in one way or another, and I try to incorporate ways to handle the tension on a daily basis.  I haven’t picked this book up in years, and I thought I would spend a week revisiting some of the author’s ideas, only to find that I already had a lot of them in my routine already.

The book has different categories for relieving stress.  Laugh, Quiet Time, Noisy Time, Move Around, Kindergarten Magic, Talk, Escape, Sleep.  Then, it talks in the last section about why an outlet for stress is so important.  My family has been known to create ulcers in times of high stress, plus there are so many other long term health conditions like chronic high blood pressure, even cancer.

Here’s what I did this last week.

Laugh.  For the Laugh section, I watched several comedies in the evening time, as a way to wind down for the day – mostly sitcoms.

Quiet Time.  This section includes breathing well, writing and taking a bath.  Tuesday nights are reserved for bubble or LUSH baths (my husband plays basketball with friends those nights).  Then, I started towards the end of the week getting into a habit of walking out to the back porch to watch the sunrise and write out my thoughts that morning.  Also, I read an article about a breathing technique that can help you calm down in any situation.  You breath in counting to seven quickly, and then you breath out counting to 11.  The trick is to breath out longer than you breath in.  It really does work.

Noisy Time. This one was fun.  Every day this week, I sang several times during the day – in the car, in my office, drying my hair, etc.  It didn’t matter what the music was, or if I sang it well, I just sang.  :)

Move Around.  This one I had incorporated several months ago with both Yoga and Running.  I’m running longer than I ever have before in my life, which I’m pretty excited about.  Also, I recognize many more positions in Yoga than I ever have.  I used to measure my workouts by my weight or how I looked in clothes, but now it’s more about the knowledge I’m gaining from myself.  It’s made it much more fun for me.

Kindergarten Magic.  This one I barely squeaked by on.  I was planning on coloring in a coloring book, but I didn’t get the time.  However, I did read aloud to myself, which was a lot of fun, even though it does slow down my reading time.

Talk.  This one I’m quite blessed to say that I have amazing friends who listen and advise with such a heart of God.  I shared my anxiety and got relate-able advice from women of all ages and life stages.  I am so thankful for the people God has blessed me with in this life.

Escape.  I think my morning sunrise time truly became an escape for me.  We did go out on Saturday to a very fancy restaurant, which was quite an escape from the norm for me.   I know I’m planning a few more escape excursions this week as well to help relieve some anxiety.  I think a pedicure is in my near future.  :)

Sleep.  I took less naps last week than I wanted, but I had one amazing one on Sunday.  I also have a night time routine that helps my body slow down to get to sleep at night.  Sleep at night is hard for me, as I’ve struggled off and on with insomnia, especially during high stress.

So, that was my week.  Like I said, I was very surprised to see things already incorporated into my schedule to help me relieve stress.  I live a philosophy of taking one day at a time, meeting each challenge when it comes.  And I’m better at it that I was yesterday, and I know I will be even better at it tomorrow.  I just remind myself not to give up and to press on.

Spring Cleaning Part Two – Focusing on the Task

So last week, I started the challenge of not multitasking for one more hour each day, working up to seven hours by the end of the week.  I have to say that this one was rocky, especially at the beginning of the week.  My weeks tend to get busier as the year continues, so there were moments (and hours) that I would completely forget the challenge altogether.

However, I did learn a lot about myself and multitasking in general.  I was inspired to do this one because of a blog I read where a man worked I think 30 days to re-train himself to not multitask.  More recently, I found this Stanford study that stated heavy multitaskers have more trouble controlling memory, paying attention and even switching from one job or task to the next.  Personally, I know that I have had a hard time lately remembering certain things and staying focused.  At the end of this week, as I was slowing down and taking time with each task on its own instead of three or four all at once, I noticed that thoughts seem to come to me easier, and I didn’t get so flustered.

Another thing I noticed is that it did take me longer to do everything I needed to do, but instead of looking at that as a burden, I used it to redefine priorities.  Could something wait until tomorrow?  Did I need to do all of these tasks right away, or could I delegate them to other people or other days?  And, once I spent all of my energy on one project instead of five or six, I could actually remember working on those things.  I find that when I multitask all day, I don’t seem to remember most of what I did.  This could all just be me, however.  Do you recognize any changes when you multitask?

Ok, now for Week # 3.

Week #3 – Learn to let go.  I’m a people pleaser and I hold onto bitterness in situations where I could not please the other person.  Learn techniques about how to let go in these types of situations, and be ok with say no or disappointing others.  Spend the week doing this with prayer to God.