Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Wednesday is a point on a stress continuum

Christina: What a story! I’m glad nothing worse befell!

Cassie: Post-Its are amazing. They have saved me in many a stressful situation!

My current stress level is perhaps 3.5-4 out of ten. I’m a solidly chill person, and I’m pretty good about dealing with things as they come to me, so it generally takes a lot to knock me above about a 6 on the stress scale.

A 0 would be the first day of maybe three days of knowing I have absolutely no obligations—nothing currently on my plate, and several days ahead of me that I know I will be in the same mindset—and the freedom to spend my time doing what I want with the people I want to be with. It would also involve knowing I have some structure and obligations to look forward to, so I don’t have to deal with the stress that comes with having nothing to work for and no prospects.

A 5 would be the third day of maybe five days of semi-closely-packed scheduling obligations, interspersed with time set aside to work on preparations for those obligations. I’ve already successfully gotten through two days of hard work, and I have several more to go, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and I feel prepared to tackle what’s coming.

A 10 (mind, I’m not sure I can recall a time when I’ve been at a 10) would be the third hour of maybe several weeks of overscheduled, ambiguous obligations, without enough time between obligations to be prepared for the next. I’ve started full-speed-ahead, but it’s only been three hours, and I’m already beat, and I don’t know how I’m going to get through the next few weeks, or even what I’ll be doing, even though I know there’s a ton going on. In fact, even thinking about the 10 is making me think more stressfully about what I do actually have going on at this moment in time. So I will take a step back.

Right now, I have a clearly delineated list of things that need to be done before tomorrow, and my classes are getting into their full swing, and I feel prepared to handle whatever they can throw at me. That, and I have a great weekend to look forward to—my eight-month-iversary with that lovely hardware store employee is this Friday, so I’m going to my college town to spend some time with her (so, Cassie, I’ll be in town this weekend : P).

And with that, I’m going to go get things done before tomorrow so I can have a stress-free night and look forward to my weekend.

Hope all is well with you all! Have a very pleasant February-beginning.

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