Monday is for STRESS

I am home at last and totally overwhelmed with things to do. I got home around 3 this afternoon, immediately opened my mail (so I could pay bills before they were late), ate two big bowls of gluten free ziti that my dad had made for me, and started doing what I call a brain drain.

What is a brain drain??? It is when I have so many things to do in so many categories, that I don't know where to start. So I start with a list. I start to list the things that have been bumping around my brain for days, maybe weeks, and that have been causing me stress. Getting them out of my head and onto paper let's me stop thinking about them a million times a day. I have a habit of trying to remind myself of things I don't have written down so I can't forget them. This makes me think if it hundreds of times a day, bringing up the same old stress and worry every time I think of it. Once it is on paper I have the power, not the thing that needs to be done.

Then I start to do things, I start at the top of the list, giving no credence to how important doing an item may actually be. It is just first come first serve. If something is glaringly not important, I will skip it and go on to the next thing. Invariably doing things leads me to both cross off completed items and add on to the end of the list with new things to do as well. After a day or two of this, the list then can be culled, organized, and ultimately gotten under control. If I try and organize my list right away I get more overwhelmed and just want to sit and cry (and sometimes do). I find trying to give things a set priority when I am overwhelmed is impossible for me because to me almost everything should be at the top of the list at that very second. After years of doing this I have noticed that my brain does give the topmost things to do their own priority, just because I am thinking about them the most, so they end up at the top of the list.

So this year I am going to dedicate my Monday blog post to stress. Things that have been stressing me, how I am dealing with them, tricks I have learned, and things I want to learn how to deal with better. I would love it if you would participate and leave me comments. Tell me what works for you and why, tell me what you think in could do better, and tell me if my ideas have helped you any. You don't have to be a craftsperson or artist to benefit or to help.

Oh, btw, posting this was on the list, but pretty far down. I just got inspired and let the moment take me where it lead. So even all the lists in the world can't help me stay on track when I am inspired.