Stressed OUT!?!

[Gemme]

I was a little stressed earlier today. I had my first day off in almost two weeks and came in to one problem after another and I never seemed to get situated before another cropped up. I'm used to putting out fires, but c'mon! Let a girl eat! Two bites of oatmeal and a small yogurt do not consitute a well balanced meal no matter how you look at it, much less two.

[Miss Scarlett]

Originally Posted by Gemme

I was a little stressed earlier today. I had my first day off in almost two weeks and came in to one problem after another and I never seemed to get situated before another cropped up. I'm used to putting out fires, but c'mon! Let a girl eat! Two bites of oatmeal and a small yogurt do not consitute a well balanced meal no matter how you look at it, much less two.

Are we living the same life?

[Scorp]

This is what I think of my work laptop this morning. Fuckin' thing...

[JustBeingMe]

: brainsucker: Ah hell I just wanna and get away to someplace I have never been and be able to relax just for a few freaking minutes before any stress in the morning hits me dammit.

[Stearns]

An acrimonious divorce between my brother and sister-in-law. Worry over how my niece and nephews (6, 7 and 9 y/o) are being affected. My brother saying things to them about their mom; the emotional abuse he heaps upon her. He is unreachable, unreasonable, unrepentant. My nephew throwing up after witnessing a horrific argument. Mental picture of the three of them huddled in the car, watching. Wondering what I can do, if I can do more. Regret at having moved - though only a state away - so far away. If I had only known.

[chefhmboyrd]

Originally Posted by Stearns

An acrimonious divorce between my brother and sister-in-law. Worry over how my niece and nephews (6, 7 and 9 y/o) are being affected. My brother saying things to them about their mom; the emotional abuse he heaps upon her. He is unreachable, unreasonable, unrepentant. My nephew throwing up after witnessing a horrific argument. Mental picture of the three of them huddled in the car, watching. Wondering what I can do, if I can do more. Regret at having moved - though only a state away - so far away. If I had only known.

my brother and his wife went through this
and the kids did suffer.
but all you can do is offer what love and support you can to the kids,
and hope for the best.

make sure they know you love them no matter what, and that if they need you all they have to do is pick up the phone and call.

[lipstixgal]

A horrible day at the internship site. All they make me do is paperwork. I'm a medical assistant for God's Sake let me do patients that's what they trained me to do. I'm bleary eyed from looking at a computer screen all day and the scans of patients charts from the nursing home. OMG what should I do?? go to the school and complain I guess that's what I am going to do!!

[nicetgurl_30]

[




Umm I work with elementary kids who go through this a lot. Of course there r web sites u can go to but a really good way to open things up just ask them. A good book is dinosaurs divorcE. Help them identify maybe if their tummy hurts after an argument it means this....or ask them what they think it means.
Happy, sad,mad,scared? Then go from there.





QUOTE=Stearns;148911]An acrimonious divorce between my brother and sister-in-law. Worry over how my niece and nephews (6, 7 and 9 y/o) are being affected. My brother saying things to them about their mom; the emotional abuse he heaps upon her. He is unreachable, unreasonable, unrepentant. My nephew throwing up after witnessing a horrific argument. Mental picture of the three of them huddled in the car, watching. Wondering what I can do, if I can do more. Regret at having moved - though only a state away - so far away. If I had only known.[/QUOTE]

[Miss Scarlett]

Just when I think the stress levels are dropping...

I work in family law. Sometimes we have a person call for an appointment and when I do the conflict check it pops up immediately. Sometimes it doesn't. It all hinges on the information provided by the client or prospective client and I don't read minds.

When I have to tell someone there is a conflict and we cannot meet with them I walk a very fine line because what I say cannot reveal confidential client information. I cannot tell someone "I'm sorry but Ms Attorney cannot meet with you. We have a conflict of interest because we have already met with your spouse." Being able to say that certainly would make my job easier. But no can do. When I do find a conflict I have to tell the prospective client "I'm sorry Ms. Attorney is unable to meet with you" and leave it at that. They ask me for more information and all I can tell them is that my attorney cannot meet with them.

Yesterday I discovered a conflict before a potential client came into the office. After discussing it with my attorney the appointment was cancelled giving the usual cryptic explanation. The stress came to roost when a family member called demanding an explanation then called back screaming and I do mean SCREAMING at me about the situation and demanding an explanation.

I gave the message to my boss and she will deal with it. I dread the phone and my office email today. Not looking forward to another tirade. Taking this personally is not something I do, but it is still an extremely unpleasant experience.

I keep repeating to myself something my Mom said when I worked for her:
"An attorney is not a bus. She doesn't have to stop and pick up every stray on the street."

Looking forward to 9/12 when this retrograde ends.

[Kenna]

Mom had her first stress-related stroke at the age of 40. .... I'm nearly 40 and, so far, have followed her footsteps with the Lupus.... wonder, given the situation, what the chances are for other similarities? It's something that's always on my mind.

[Soft*Silver]

My daughter's other mother from her father's other marraige (got that?) has been a life long bain. And once again, the bitch has risen from the dust and is raking her claws across my daughter's back as she attemts to snatch her to carry her across the land and dump her in the blackness of her own rotted ideology she calls religious beliefs.

I cant say a word because it is always interpreted as me being jealous of her.

when in fact, it is the furtherst thing in my mind.

what I *am* is PISSED that this twit of a woman can walk in and out of my daughter's life simply because the idiot man I married because I was too drunk to know better, married her after I divorced him!

and they arent even married anymore!

[Sparkle]

I've had stress overload for so long that I nearly hit my breaking point recently. There are, of course, a litany of reasons that my stress hit this crisis point.

I thought I'd share what I'm doing *about it*, my baby steps...

I've been prescribed an anti-depressant for (what had become) pervasive anxiety; I'm doing another course of EMDR for my PTSD symptoms. I've found that in the last 10days the combination has alleviated most of my daily anxiety.

With anxiety out of the way, I'm hoping that other healthy lifestyle choices will shift the depression that has settled over me from the cumulative effect of all my short and long term stress.

I'm trying to make decisions every day that reduce the stress I feel. I know I can't instantly change the external stressors that impact me, but I can change how my body and mind react to them.

I am aiming, every single day, to sleep for 8hours. That means going to bed ridiculously early (9pm) because I know it takes me at least 1-2hours to fall asleep. For me, it also means not logging on to my computer after 8pm because it "jigs me up", not watching television (computer) in bed, not eating after 7pm, only drinking water after dinner, turning off my phone at night... These are all hard habits to break, but I see results when I do break them.

Now that the snow has melted and the daylight has increased, I am consciously increasing the amount of time I spend walking my dog every day. We're up to a 45min walk in the afternoon/evening; as well as our quickie 15min walks first thing in the morning and last thing at night. My aim is to always give him an hour walk in the afternoon and then to add additional exercise that is just for me (pilates, yoga, and eventually starting to run again).

The combination of the medication, sleep and the slowly increasing exercise are starting to help me build a new routine - in to which I can continue to navigate the daily stress of managing too little money, searching for a decent FT job (instead of juggling freelance and PT work), planning and cooking nutritious low cost meals and keeping a tidy house.

And ultimately I aim to *like my life* again, even with the stress.