“Happily ever after…” Maybe, but not because stress goes away. You will experience waves of stress the rest of your life. Make a plan to handle it or drown.
When you have increased stress, you need to increase your stress balancing strategies. What has happened for me this last week or so with a wave of stress including a category five Hurricane Lane bearing down on my first born, a friend going in for open heart surgery, again, unhealthy air quality due to wild fires in British Columbia, Washington and Oregon caused in part by global warming, an administration denying climate warming, the internet at the office has crashed, etc.
My normal strategy of self-care includes mediation and peaceful walking, taiji, and drawing Zentangles.
In my efforts to get the internet running, I quite drawing, didn’t increase my self-care practices to balance the stress, but reduced them because I didn’t have time. People do this. And it makes things worse.
When people drop their practices, they often fall into their addictions. They spiral. Me too.
I started to draw again. I feel mo’ better now.
What will you do when proverbial poop hits the spinning device?
May you be happy, wild, and free.
William
PS Read The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World – read the brief review here.
