I frequently find myself worrying about the little things such as the traffic on my way to work or where I will park when I get there or whether I unplugged my flat iron so it doesn't burn down the house while I'm away. Then I get to work and I start worrying about my classes that I have to attend after work. Sometimes I get so neurotic that I convince myself that a paper I know is due next week is actually due tonight. Now I'm going to fail my class because I didn't do the paper and besides that I have to beat the traffic on my way to school and then find a parking spot. In the meantime that damned flat iron is burning down my house.
Ok, I know it's rather irrational and I generally just shrug it off. But then last night, I'm having dinner with my parents and I just burst into tears for no apparent reason. My mom freaked out. She kept asking me what was wrong. Did I have a fight with a friend? Did something happen at work? Did she do something hurtful to me? I had no answer. I was just sad and stressed and I need to let it out. After a few minutes of crying I felt better and a bit silly. But I was forced to examine what could have caused my outburst.
I think the conclusion I came to is that it's the little things that I let myself worry about. I always just mark them as irrational and push them to the back of my mind when truly I should address then. I should do more things to relieve my stress level but the question is what. People always say that a good cry makes you feel better and I know it helped me. However, I opened one of those little Dove chocolates today (they're like fortune cookies in the sense that they have messages inscribed on the inside of the wrapper) and the fortune said "Laugh until your heart overflows" and it occured to me that laughter reduces stress, lowers blood-pressure, elevates mood, boosts the immune system, improves brain function, protects your heart, connects you to others, fosters instant relaxation, and makes you feel better. So I thinking maybe when I'm feeling stressed in the future I should rent a funny movie instead of freaking my parents out.
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Comments: 9
I am picky about my chocolate though
Stevie
Perhaps rather than dismissing your worries as irrational, you should instead think about what amusing things you would do if what you are worrying about actually happened. If you failed to beat traffic and then couldn't find a parking spot at school, well then you will arrive home just in the nick of time to prevent that flat iron from burning down the house, and so then if you really did forget the deadline for your paper, well ,you have the excuse of "My house was burning down!" to get an extension from the teacher ;)