Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Code Red Stress Alert

Please leave your encouragement and sense of perspective in the comments. Thank you, my friends.

11 comments:

Ann Forstie said...
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Ann Forstie said...

Here are some that help me:

In a week or two, you'll barely remember today.

Remember those crappy word-processor computers we used in high school? We don't have those any more.

Space is so huge, we don't even know if the universe ends or not.

Ann Forstie said...

Also, some cute/funny things:

Cat proximity

Cutest kitten ever

Hoverocerous

Ann Forstie said...

Too much work and stress suck. I really hope things calm down soon. Try to get enough sleep and a nice mix of yummy and healthy things to eat.

You're smart and talented and brave and hard-working. I'm sure whatever happens, you'll kick ass at it.

Larry Jones said...

When I get all tense and gnashing my teeth I try to stop and breathe and feel my body, and let it relax the bunched up, angry muscles. I think about how small I am in the Big Picture, and therefore how inconsequential my problems must be.

Also, sometimes I do a little reverse worrying: "I'm pretty good. What if I really ace this project? It could happen. In fact, it probably will!" This gives me a positive attitude, which is often all I need.

And let's not overlook the potential benefits of a wild sexual romp.

Hope you feel better soon!

kStyle said...

Thank you both!

Ann--Space IS huge! And yet Cat Proximity makes us dumb! It's amazing to ponder...

Larry--Reverse worrying--that is fantastic! It kinda makes me crack up!

You are correct about romps, but I seldom want sex when I'm this stressed. See how irrational stress makes a person?

kStyle said...

Good news, I woke up feeling a bit better, and then your comments helped, too. I did 2 unorthodox things that helped--

1. At volleyball, there are 2 Elder Players who, although they frequently make mistakes themselves, are lavish with the "constructive" feedback when anyone else makes an error. (A third player, who is just plan good, also knows how to both encourage and give sparing, useful feedback. I was not at all aggravated with him.) Not surprisingly, I was not playing well yesterday, and I was getting super-nagged. I made a couple of good plays I've been struggling with, and I got nagged anyway! For example, I got 2 balls off the net for the First Time Ever, and the response? "K, you need to hit those higher." Finally I play-real lost it on the worst offender, jumping up-and-down, pointing, in an over-the-top, fake temper tantrum with a real message, yelling, "STOP! STOP! I've had a bad day and I'm totally stressed out! STOP GIVING ME FEEDBACK!" Everyone had a good chuckle, though I fear I looked something of a psycho, and then they did back off. Hallelujah.

(They continued nagging everyone else, though.)

kStyle said...

2. I stayed up a little later to start a grad school assignment that's been stressing me out. It's not that it's necessarily a difficult assignment, but it is something new to me (writing sheltered English lesson plans) and I was worried about having time and all the ideas were swirling in my head without form. So, despite G's advice to Go To Bed and Get Sleep or I'd Feel Even Worse, I stayed up and worked a while. It helped my stress level a lot.

kStyle said...

Back to 1., It also kills me that I was making dumb errors that I never make anymore, and they called me on it every single time, rather than thinking, "Hmmm, she doesn't normally make that error, must just be having an off night."

"K, that ball's not yours." "K, hit that higher." "K, that ball was yours." "K, no force when you bump, just get under it." I tried a few hints, like saying over and over, "I know that. I just made a mistake." Or, "I know that, but it takes a while for the muscle memory to do it." Trying to get across that, you know, telling me over and over is not actually helping, just aggravating.

When I lost it was when D. said, "If you know it, then do it." A tantrum was definitely in order.

Narya said...

Wow--that's really a lot of "feedback." You're more patient that I suspect I would be.

Here's a stress-related story: I was in two meetings with Annoying Person at Work on Tuesday, and, in the second one, she was being even more dense than usual. At one point, she tried to say the same thing again, for the 15th time, and prefaced it with, "You're just not understanding me." I let it go, but in my head I thought, "Oh, no, I DO understand you: And you are both wrong and stupid."

I completely understand how staying up late to get started on something would ease the stress. Plus, it allows the brain to start working on it when you're doing something else.

kStyle said...

BAD coworker! No biscuit!