Burning at Both Ends

My daughter, Meghan (Em) is a college student who is working, taking a very full load of classes, taking voice lessons, taking piano lessons, mentoring a young girl and is involved in church and has a boyfriend.

There is no wiggle room in her schedule.

I've been there, many times.  Burning the candle at both ends, not able to let anything drop or fail, living on coffee and "to-do" lists.  Sometimes there is no way out of a situation like that except THROUGH it, but sometimes you have to take stock of your scene and make some tough decisions.  Meghan is an amazing girl and I know she will know how to handle it.

I've learned the hard way that I need margin in my own life to keep sane.  Not everyone needs the same level of "down" time, but for me, I find that I function much more graciously with my loved ones when I get enough of it.

By "down" time, I don't mean mindlessly watching soaps all day, but being able to fold my family's clothes, and straighten the house at the end of a day, and sit and listen to a child talk about a dream he had the other night....well, that stuff is what it's all about. 

It's the goodness that can be found in the everyday things that gets lost when I get stressed out.

How do you deal with stress?  Here are some ways I handle it:

• Sometimes, I make a list and cross off the unnecessary items.
• Or I take a nap. (Always a welcome relief)
• Watch a movie
• Do the Next Thing
• Talk to my sister
• Spend time praying
• Blog

Today's Small Thing is to deliberately De-Stress by using one of your favorite techniques.  Give yourself permission to take a few minutes to do something fun or relaxing.  Or fold fresh towels and enjoy their clean softness.  Or have a tea party with your child.  These things don't really make your problems go away, but they might put them into perspective and give you energy to tackle them later.

Snuff one of the ends of your candle by eliminating something, if you can.  Give yourself some extra time to accomplish what you need to, and, for heaven's sake,  GET SOME REST!

POINTS: 40 for making a point to eliminate some stress.  Whatever you decide to do, why not tell someone what you're doing, so that it will be a REAL ACTION STEP?  Maybe this would be a good blog idea to link up with today!