Stress

In my book So You're Gonna Be A DAD-Now What? I urge fathers to know their breaking point. Early on I learned mine when I started singing the Shut-Up song. So you think I would have this whole stress thing under control - after all I wrote about it.

Well I have something to admit - I am human. This past weekend I found myself having problems balancing work, family, this book, and several other big things and I thought I was doing okay. The realization that I was not on top of things occurred when I was leaving a voice message for a guy named Rudy to cut down some trees and I forgot our home phone number. This was not a new number - it was the same one we have had for 12 years! As my wife heard me admit my issue and then silently stand there for 3 seconds, she finally came to my aide with the number and I sheepishly finished the message and hung up. So, am I a stress expert?

Well, I quickly realized I needed to make some changes because I was not handling things well. I picked up the one stress management book that I own and spent 45 minutes scanning the pages and reminding myself of all the things that I should already know. Healthy food, exercise, and get more sleep - - yes, I know - - DUH! I am not sure if you need any encouragement right now - but here are my tips.

#1 - Keep a stress management book around. Preferably short (<150pp)>Stress Reduction for Busy People by Dawn Groves. She covers the basics and does it in 119pp.

#2 - Talk to someone about your stress. Spouse, friend at home, friend at work - let someone close to you know how you are feeling. A 5 min conversation with my wife in the kitchen turned my day around!

#3 - Locate the cause and fix it! Some solutions are easy (stop volunteering, get a planner) while others are very difficult (job change, end an addiction) - but we have to deal with it. Stress shortens life and ruins relationships.

So Are you stressed about something?
How effectively are you dealing with it? Is it impacting other parts of your life?
Do you have three people in your life that you can vent to?