Another Sunny Blog

The 5 Pillars of My Stress (Mis)Management

1. Stop Exercising, because I don't have time!
2. Stop Eating Healthy and Eat Fast Food, because I don't have time to cook/shop.
3. Stop Cleaning, because I don't have time!
4. Stop Opening my Mail and paying my Bills, because I don't have time, and I can't deal with it.
5. Stop Talking to People, because I don't have time, and I can't handle it.

So this is a summary of my downward cycle. Normally, it starts with not exercising. But after that all the pillars are tied to the others and each one makes me stop doing the others until I'm even more stressed out and I'm a disaster. I know this. I don't know how I fall so easily into this cycle. Surely enough, once I'm a little stressed I start cycling and soon one of the pillars falls. And then the other pillars fall slowly or quickly and with the collapse of each support I become more and more stressed until I'm a complete mess.

The strategy for rebuilding isn't easy either. You can't just build up one pillar, because it won't support anything. If you try to raise one pillar, it will collapse again. So you have to generally build each pillar slowly and evenly so that none will collapse. This is my upward cycle. Maybe it's my "manic" phase. I'm not sure. Anyway so far here is my current status:

1. I exercised today. Each journey begins with a single step.
2. I ate so much I was in physical pain yesterday. So far today I've eaten 2 oranges and a 6" Subway Sub. Score! Eat Fresh!
3. I've cleaned some. I've thrown away a lot of trash. I've also started to reorganize a little. I need to clean my kitchen. Fortunately my bathroom is mostly clean right now.
4. I've opened all my mail since August. I've discovered hospital bills that have been sent to collections. But fear not, true believers! I exist below the poverty line so everything is taken care of! My credit score probably sucks, but it could be much worse. Much much worse actually. Most of what I opened is junk mail. It makes me sick that I threw away so much paper. A lot of it I had to shred because it was sensitive. Can you recycle shreddings? I should check.
5. I'm still not talking to many people. Not that I'm mad at anyone or that I have a specific reason , I just don't want to deal with it.

I'm on my way....