Stress

I think my head may explode if things don't get back to normal soon. I am buried in work and I'm getting sick. Oh and to top all of that off, I am not allowed to take my allergy medication due to an upcoming appointment for allergy testing and I am about ready to scratch my face off!

Nothing is helping to relieve the stress because, even when I'm distracted, I have a little nagging feeling that there are things to be done. The only thing that helps to relieve it at all is...well let's just say that I am accumulating more and more scars.

I want to just sit and write all day and get everything out of my system, but it takes up too much time. Honestly, I shouldn't even be writing this post right now, but if I don't I may go slightly insane. I keep thinking about being a kid again where the only worries I had were cleaning my room and choosing what color I should draw my flowers.

I know I shouldn't be complaining because so many people have it so much worse than I do, but it doesn't change the fact that I feel so utterly overwhelmed. I know I should be concerned with others and stop being so selfish, but right now I need to take care of myself. I think that is a perfectly reasonable thing to do. And if you have a problem with that then too fucking bad. No matter how much I may want to, the fact of life is that you can't please everybody.

To be honest, it's a good thing because if everyone absolutely loved you, you would feel even more pressure to be 'perfect' and perfection is unattainable. Nobody is perfect, no one ever had been and no one ever will be. Imperfection makes us unique and being unique is even better.

I ramble far too often. Oh well, this is my blog and I can do whatever the hell I damn please! ;) Back to stress. I know it's basically impossible to just chill out and relax when your life feels incredibly hectic and busy, but here's what I do to deal with it (in no particular order after bullets 1 & 2)

• Take a step back (Not literally, but if that's what you want to do, then by all means.)
• Breathe (This is a really great step because breathing is important for living. You know, in case you forgot.)
•  Motivate yourself (Make a list of all the things you want to do just for fun, then designate an amount of time needed to do one of those things. For example: Watching a YouTube video 1-5 minutes long requires having done an hour's worth of work. Get it?)
• Take a shower (I do some of my best thinking in the shower. Why? No clue, but it works. Hot or cold, doesn't matter. Whatever suits your fancy. Plus you come out clean and smelling fresh, woo!)
• Turn on some music (Music calms me down and I find myself becoming distracted from the stress while still maintaining the ability to get the work done. Does that even make sense?) 
• Take breaks (Remove yourself from whatever work you're doing and unwind a bit before the stress of the work becomes overwhelming again.)
• Enlist help (If you can collaborate on the work, do it! Having another person around generally makes the task at hand easier, more fun, and less stressful. If you're doing homework or studying get a study buddy/group, just make sure you actually do work.)

If these steps don't help, there are always other options such as talking to someone, exercising, squeezing one of those stress ball things, etc. Keep working and keep calm, it has to get better eventually, right?