This week (really the past couple weeks) has been crazy busy. We have tons going on around the homestead with preparations for the growing season, managing the animals, and routine yard work this time of year. Throw on top of that quality time with our daughter, our jobs, side jobs, and prepping for the wedding I am Best Man in this weekend. We are feeling the effects this week.
Normally if I wake up exhausted I will still get up at my normal 4:30 time and get ready, then just chill in the living room. This morning I didn’t even get out of bed - I was so beat. With everything going on, and the stress of it, I couldn’t get to sleep till late last night and then slept poorly.
Stress management is not something that we are great at in our household. Now, we operate well, maybe even optimally, under a light to moderate stress load. That is pretty standard I think because some stress is needed to be motivated. I even say that we operate well, physically, under high stress loads because we are great at getting a lot of things done and done well. However, we definitely suffer mentally when we are overloaded on stress.
I have gotten better at managing my mental game in the past year or so. However, I could always benefit from improvement. My biggest issue is that I ruminate on stressful or worrisome things. Sometimes I do that with minute tasks that need done, but I can’t rest mentally till I have the plan laid out. It’s like my mind craves closure on things that are not even significant.
At the end of the day I have to remind myself that, typically, our stress is self induced as we work towards the life we want. No one made us take on 2 baby goats and 13 chicks at the same time. However, we want and need them to get where we want to be. I didn’t have to agree to be Best Man, but this is my best friend and I consider it an honor. Heck, he told me I didn’t need to give a toast, but I told myself that he deserves to have someone speak on his behalf and I should be the one to do it.
When I talk about these stressors in that context, I remind myself of the purpose of them, the meaning behind them, and I actually can find gratitude in them.
Take care,
-Trevor