Stress can kill Part 2

My mother is better, they moved her to a step down room today. They aren't sure they are going to go forward with her heart surgery right away, she may be sent home to take care of a Dental Check first. I am trying not to get crazy about it. She had gotten sent home from a rehab center weeks ago after the car accident without getting the 3 days of intraveneous antibiotics as she was supposed to get. So when she was admitted Thursday she still had the infection in her blood. They sent her home without fixing her last time and they are going to do it again?!

We obviously haven't gone on our vacation as we had planned, good thing I didn't firm up the reservations I was considering. We may still go on Wednesday or Thursday for a couple of days.

And no I wasn't fired Friday, it was simply paperwork I needed to sign for a company wide pay downgrade. I did bring it to my boss' attention that his email was alarming. Not sure if that was the right thing to do or not...but that is how I handled it as I was pretty pissed. Yup everyone in my company got a pay decrease. 5-10% depending on your rate of pay. It sucks, but "It is what it is". At least I still have a job, and its a job I like alot and do well at. Newspapers throughout the country are floundering right now, I hope they survive this recession.

And Mike's car didn't need a transmission, just a few parts that they needed to lift the tranny out to install. So $1300+ later...maybe it's just as well we didn't go on a five day get away!


Back to the stress article...I just loved the tips...I am going to try to incorporate them more often, some I knew of, others I never thought of though I have used them most notably #1 -


"Turn up the tunes. Listening to music that has a steady (not frenetic) beat may cause brain waves to keep time and relax you, research from a music symposium at Stanford University in California reports. Load your iPod with a playlist of the songs that make you happiest."

Here are some of the other tips:

Phone a friend.
Break a sweat. (Exercising)
Use a better bulb.
Pamper yourself.
Dine by candlelight.
Snuggle with your sweetie.
Keep a journal.
Anticipate something awesome.
Give someone props.

Here is to all of us incorporating some of these things into our daily lifes to help us cope.