I am currently exhausted and in recovery mode from a whole lot of work. We are all so vulnerable when we are exhausted and we need to protect ourselves from all of the little things that take away our energy and patience. It is those little things that can sneak up and kick you right down into the pit. When I am exhausted, for instance, I do not go on vacation and do not run a bunch of errands. I try real hard not to commit myself to too much work. But still, I end up with an email problem, I lose my keys, I can’t find clean socks for my son. Researchers have studied what kinds of stressors get to us and these “little things” have a huge impact.
Researchers call them “daily hassles” and they are more highly associated with going bananas than are the “big” things like losing a spouse or getting a new job.
The daily hassles most of us share are the rising cost of goods, concerns about the health of a family member, losing things, or looming household maintenance. These days, the rising cost of goods and our major cuts in income probably feel a whole lot bigger than a “hassle.” Just the other day we were hiking in the Giant Sequoias and came upon a great example of a daily hassle: The guy next to us parked on top of a rock.
Recognizing the role these daily hassles can play in my mental health, I really do try to reduce them. I try to keep my keys in one spot. I try hard to do anything well in advance if it has a deadline. If I find myself worrying about the economy, I take stock of what I have and know it is a whole lot more than my grandparents had during the Dustbowl days. When I have a day where it feels like seventy-five things are going wrong, I try to balance that feeling with “daily uplifts:” I try to do something that will help me feel healthy or rested, I complete a task, or I spend time with my sons.
Today Frederick and I are going to make video or audio recordings of some of his stories. We may try to capture some of Alastair’s pre-talking noises. We may spend a few minutes in the hammock together or pick ripe nectarines and figs and eat them in the orchard. It is a good way to balance the hassles that plague me on days like this. Perhaps I will take a ride up to the redwoods and see if someone else managed to park on a rock. Getting the truck off the rock without a scratch actually ended up being a good bit of fun, probably largely because it wasn’t my truck.
Technorati Tags: depression, daily hassles
@ Amazon.
SO, now I’m dying to know how you got the truck off the rock! ;^)
LOL @ Eric. Indeed.
First they tried to build up some rocks in front of that back tire, drive the truck over the rocks, onto and off of the big rock. The back tire spun and did nothing.
The solution: They jacked the truck up enough to clear the rock by about an inch. Luckily this big rock was not embedded into the earth, so they cleared some of the dirt from the front of it. They tied the rock to another truck, put 3 x 250-pound guys on the tail end of that second truck, and they very easily pulled the rock out from under the truck. It was all very exciting. We took a lot of pictures and there was talk of a YouTube video.
Yeah, it always helps to hear someone else’s problems! Like my bi-polar friend says, “if we all threw our STUFF on the table, we’d take back our own STUFF.”
Here’s my latest stressor: I’m not wondering if my 10 month old heifer is bred! She’s having amazing udder development and she looks pregnant! I hope not! Unplanned pregnancies always are a stressor…huh Amanda?
Oh no! Teenage mothers tend to have it harder anyway. Give her lots of rest, sunshine, and green grass and report back to us.
Your plans for today sound like they’d be full of great memories!
The vet checked my Little Joy this morning and the good news is that she is NOT pregnant! She is just a little sucker!!! So the weaning ring went back in and will stay in….who knows how long. She also confirmed that Josie won’t calve until Oct!!! So we now have a lot longer to wait.
I guess that’s the downside to natural breeding — you can’t be sure of the due date. So you don’t have any milk until the fall? That’s too bad.
We did have a great time yesterday.