How Do You Deal With Stress ?

I believe we all have our own ways to cope with stress in our lives.  We are most likely to identify our own process when unexpected stress rears it's ugly head.  This happened to me today when my barely 2-months old child (Spencer) had to go to the ER and is now staying overnight at the hospital with RSV.  Bless my awesome wife for staying with him, knowing she will get very little "rest."  So how do I deal with this stress?  Here are some thoughts ...

Some people cry.  Some people get angry.  Some people eat more.  Some people stop eating altogether.  Some people seek comfort in the presence of other people.  Some people seek to be alone with their thoughts.  Some people listen to music.  Some people read.  Some people disappear into online games.  Some people sleep.  Some people find busy work to keep their mind off the things that are stressing them.  Some people make lists of what they need to do.  Some people pray for guidance.  Some people phone a friend.  Some people watch TV or a movie.  Some people write their feelings (good, bad, angry, sad, etc.) in a journal or blog.  Some people exercise.

Whatever your method, may I offer one piece of advice?  Make sure it doesn't add to your stress after you are done ... otherwise, you're not coping or recovering, you are procrastinating ... and that virtually never turns out better.

BTW ... I think my method of coping is to offer unsolicited advice.  :)

Song Of The Day:
I also like to use music as a means to shift my stressful feelings into more action-oriented solutions.  Music can change your mood and can inspire you to overcome challenges you face.  When it feels chaotic for me, I really enjoy some Enya.  She has plenty of good tunes to choose from (although critics say it all eventually sounds the same).  One of my favorite, uplifting songs is "Fairytale" which is a relatively simple melody, but it always soothes me and takes me to a happy place.

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