Disconnecting?
I know, I've been MIA from the blog.
It's summer, and I actually managed to get out of the desert heat. It was fantastic! If I get some free time a little later this week I'll recap some of the highlights. Then as soon as we got back we were cramming all the last minute summer stuff in that I'd hoped to do with the kids.
But now it all ends. *sigh* The kids go back to school tomorrow. On the one hand, I'm excited to get back into the normal routine of things. On the other hand: driving, homework, ulcers over my schedule. You know. All the stuff that had me nearly panicking a couple of months ago.
Speaking of panicking, I had my first real panic attack the other night. At least, I'm assuming that's what it was. I was lying in bed, almost dozing off, for once not even stressing about a to do list for the next day, and all of a sudden I had these squeezing chest pains. I felt like I couldn't draw a breath. It was so scary; one minute I had been fine, and then next I thought I must be have a heart attack or something. But it passed really quickly, and I was able to go to sleep right away. It was odd though. I've had the racing heart thing happen before-- my mother has experienced the same thing and the final verdict was that it was caused by hormones-- but this was different. Eh. I'm not going to worry about it. Whether caused by hormones or panic attack, it seems like the best solution is to try and really get a handle on my stress.
I've been kicking around this issue for quite awhile now. How to tone down the stress. How to get the anxiety out of my life before it causes some serious health issues. The trouble is that my life is just full; really full. Five kids and a primary calling will do that to you. But other people juggle this kind of stuff without having anxiety. There's no guarantee that if I shipped away all my kids and asked to be released from my responsibilities at church that I would have less anxiety. It seems to be a mental lack of coping skills problem that I would have anywhere in any situation.
Exercise helps some. But not enough.
I've wondered if cutting out facebook would help. I've now made it almost 3 months without reading blog or article comments on the internet and it's done wonders for my sanity. (Those comments just leach the optimism right out of my day and replace it with contentious feelings.) But facebook is harder. Not only is it my connection to so many friends and family members who are not close by, it is also one of my major ways of managing my church responsibilities. It's also allowed me opportunities to serve other people, to know when people around me are struggling. I don't know how to function without that anymore. But every time I get on facebook, I swear it adds a ten pound weight to each shoulder. Or maybe I'm angry or indignant about a posting, and those negative feelings carry forward into other areas of my day.
Maybe a technology fast of some kind every so often? A day every week when I disconnect from the computer screen and the phone and see if that helps me find some place of inner peace that lets me cope with the rest of the week?
What are your ideas?
It's summer, and I actually managed to get out of the desert heat. It was fantastic! If I get some free time a little later this week I'll recap some of the highlights. Then as soon as we got back we were cramming all the last minute summer stuff in that I'd hoped to do with the kids.
But now it all ends. *sigh* The kids go back to school tomorrow. On the one hand, I'm excited to get back into the normal routine of things. On the other hand: driving, homework, ulcers over my schedule. You know. All the stuff that had me nearly panicking a couple of months ago.
Speaking of panicking, I had my first real panic attack the other night. At least, I'm assuming that's what it was. I was lying in bed, almost dozing off, for once not even stressing about a to do list for the next day, and all of a sudden I had these squeezing chest pains. I felt like I couldn't draw a breath. It was so scary; one minute I had been fine, and then next I thought I must be have a heart attack or something. But it passed really quickly, and I was able to go to sleep right away. It was odd though. I've had the racing heart thing happen before-- my mother has experienced the same thing and the final verdict was that it was caused by hormones-- but this was different. Eh. I'm not going to worry about it. Whether caused by hormones or panic attack, it seems like the best solution is to try and really get a handle on my stress.
I've been kicking around this issue for quite awhile now. How to tone down the stress. How to get the anxiety out of my life before it causes some serious health issues. The trouble is that my life is just full; really full. Five kids and a primary calling will do that to you. But other people juggle this kind of stuff without having anxiety. There's no guarantee that if I shipped away all my kids and asked to be released from my responsibilities at church that I would have less anxiety. It seems to be a mental lack of coping skills problem that I would have anywhere in any situation.
Exercise helps some. But not enough.
I've wondered if cutting out facebook would help. I've now made it almost 3 months without reading blog or article comments on the internet and it's done wonders for my sanity. (Those comments just leach the optimism right out of my day and replace it with contentious feelings.) But facebook is harder. Not only is it my connection to so many friends and family members who are not close by, it is also one of my major ways of managing my church responsibilities. It's also allowed me opportunities to serve other people, to know when people around me are struggling. I don't know how to function without that anymore. But every time I get on facebook, I swear it adds a ten pound weight to each shoulder. Or maybe I'm angry or indignant about a posting, and those negative feelings carry forward into other areas of my day.
Maybe a technology fast of some kind every so often? A day every week when I disconnect from the computer screen and the phone and see if that helps me find some place of inner peace that lets me cope with the rest of the week?
What are your ideas?
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