*Thank you Tammy and Stacie for featuring me this week!
Stress. One of those four letter words like laundry and blizzard. Stress has been a constant companion in my life. Honestly, I don’t think I know how to function without a little bit of stress. Maybe that’s why I became an Army wife (detect the notes of sarcasm in this post). Living life, being married, paying bills, that’s all stressful. Throw the Army into the mix, and sometimes you want to stab yourself with a spork. Throw in a couple special needs kids, and sometimes you want to stab someone in the Army with a spork. You just get stabby from the stress if you know what I’m saying. When people don’t do their jobs correctly, and I’ve been fighting lots of red tape, I tend to turn into Linda Blair – you know, Exorcist style. I haven’t figured out how to actually spew pea soup yet, but that’d be a pretty cool Halloween party trick.
How to I de-stress? Lots of ways. Since my older son is in school, and the younger one still naps, I use naptime to do what I want to do. I let the housework go, and read a book, watch bad tv, edit pictures, or even take a nap myself. This is the chunk of time I utilize the most since it occurs every day.
I have an awesome husband who gets that being a SAHM is actually work, so that helps tremendously when I have those days where I just need to get away. One morning I woke up at 6am, took my notebook, went to our local grocery store with hot chocolate, breakfast food, comfy chairs, and wifi, and just sat for a couple hours before I actually did any grocery shopping. I got to enjoy my breakfast, blog, and surf the internet at my leisure. I don’t always take the notebook, but I have been running the errands on the weekends – ALONE. It’s been a big help in keeping what sanity I have left. This past week, I needed some extra time. I went and got my roots done (oh the gray hairs my kids have given me already!), a haircut, and then I had a chiropractor appointment for a pinched nerve in my lower back. I missed the whole after school/dinner/bedtime section of our day, which can be the most stressful, and I came home much more refreshed.
Something my husband and I do for each other, no matter what our family budget is, for our birthdays, and Mother’s Day and Father’s Day respectively, we give each other the day off. The other one tends to the kids, cooks all the meals, etc. We can do whatever we want on those days.
What do you do to combat stress in your life?
About Amanda
It really helps when you have a significant other that is supportive and gives you the breaks you need. My husband is the same way only his cooking is take out. LOL All the red tape with the insurance companies is a pain too. In fact I just had to call the insurance company the other day and rip them a new one.
My husband do the same thing for our birthdays and Mother and Father’s Day. Since we rarely buy gifts for each other, this has become one of our traditional gifts to each other.
Tammy´s last [type] ..How Do You Deal With Stress
I have one of those great husbands too, luckily, it makes all the difference:) Jen (visiting from SN bloghop)
I can easily get frustrated and not give my husband enough credit for the support he provides. We really are in it together- even though I bear a lot more of it all most of the time.
Great post!
Hopping by!
Dani G´s last [type] ..Special Needs Blog Hop- Stress