Negative Stress

I brought up negative stress in my last post and several posts ago.  I suppose it's about time that I got back to it.

To reiterate, negative stress is exactly that.  It's not a good thing.  Enough of it could lead to physical ailments, like headaches, body aches, and insomnia, which in turn lead to more negative stress and more ailments.  For most of us it is impossible to avoid many of the things that lead to negative stress in our lives, so it behooves us to learn to cope with it.

There really are a lot of ways to cope with negative stress.  Ignoring it is always an option.  Sometimes that works, but often, it will not.  Hence, we must all learn to cope.  Coping could be either coping with the stressful situation, so that it becomes less stressful, or coping with the stress itself, so that it feels less stressful.

No matter what, coping always begins with breathing.  So, stop and take a deep breath.  Take several deep breaths, each as slow and steady as possible.  Just a few deep breaths are usually enough to get the relaxation started.  That's what my exercise guy always says, and he's right.

A relaxed mind is a clear mind, and a clear mind is better suited to take whatever is causing you stress and compress it down to something easier to control.  Once we get our stressors under control, well... they sky's the limit, isn't it?

So let's breathe.

He's yummy.

Additional Resources:

WebMD

Helpguide.org

www.NPR.org

Writer's Block

I suppose it really is inaccurate for a writer to say that he or she is 'blocked'.  As a writer, one can always come up with something to write.  However, one may not always be able to come up with something to write on the topic about which he or she desires to write.  Currently, that is me.

My brain is fully charged and engines are revving.  But when I put fingers to keyboard, very little of creative value comes out.  Over the past six weeks, I have probably only written about 10K words of creative fiction.  Don't get me wrong, those 10K words were very good--in fact, I posted some of it in the Blue Room.  However, there was a time that I was writing 10K words in five days!  Where has my motivation gone?

I'll tell you where.  Life.  Life has kept me incredibly busy.  A full time job that is generally more than 40 hours a week, four children (three small ones), and my hour and a half, twice weekly workout.  Just think, I should be working out at least three times a week, but... 'ain't nobody got time for that!"

I have a lot of distractions in my life, which keep me from streamlining my thoughts and focusing on the creative process.  Do they cause me stress?  Abso-freaking-lutely.  And it ain't the good kind of stress.

So what am I going to do about it?  I don't know yet.  I have several options:

1) Get out of the stressful environment
2) Meditate to clear my head
3) Pray to God Almightly to make me invulnerable to stress
4) Exercise even more
5) Ignore the stress and push on
6) Succumb to the stress and become a quivering mass of insanity.  Like this guy:

Maybe, I'll skip Option 6 and just try the others.

Wish me luck!

Natural Hair Movement Revisited

Hair is work.  Short hair is damned hard work!  And I'm not even natural... yet.  Oh yeah...  Here's my new (not so new) hair.  I meant to post a picture when the hair actually was new, but I forget things so quickly.