Seeking Sanctuary

So yesterday wasn't my best day ever. I sort of had a mini-breakdown. It seems that my marathon month, work stress, all these changes, and my planning for my trip caught up with me. I guess I was just waiting for July 1, and then I just got upset. I know it's because I haven't sought out sanctuary (and made room for myself) in all of this. So I went home early, took a nap, and I cleaned my room. Getting organized again will really help. You can't take the pressure of being behind the eight ball all of the time. At some point something has to give. In a nutshell that's way I didn't write in my blog yesterday.

So I'm looking at making my trip more manageable. I may not see as much of Australia as I would like, however, unless I have a friend along with me the lodging costs will be too much. So either someone will sign up to go. Hint, hint, or I'm going to figure out what I can handle and just stick with that. I would like to see more of Austraila, but I'm guessing I may get back there. I just don't want the added pressure of spending too much and going more into the hole. I also may need to fit in some part-time hours. Some of you are laughing I know. It would be great to put in time doing something I enjoy like writing/editing, so I am going to seek out some options. I'll make this work! Yesterday I wasn't sure, but today I'm reenergized to move forward.

I guess my other realization is that I need more healthy stress coping mechanisms. Exercise is one, but boot camp being so early in the morning doesn't necessarily decrease my stress. Yoga does, but also I want other options. too. I recently read an article called, "When stress hits, we default to 'coping combos': Our patterns of sleeping/eating (or not) are based in biology, emotion.

Excerpt: "Say hello to the many faces of stress. While health experts urge people to exercise, eat right and get enough sleep in order to keep stress and its harmful effects at bay, many of us tend to fall into all-too-predictable and all-too-unhealthy patterns when life gets out of whack -- we smoke more, we drink more, we ignore the gym and make tracks for the shopping mall. But the place stress seems to hammer us the hardest is right where we live: in our bedrooms and bellies."

This right here proves that I may be a bit crazy...with the addition of all my healthy patterns--I need other healthy coping mechanisms. The expert from the article, Thorn said that when we're feeling out of control we look for the quick fixes such as alcohol, chocolate, carbs (we're genetically wired to do this). I knew it!

"The good news, Thorn says, is that just because there's a really, really old program running in our head that urges us to seize the Danish (or the dirty martini) when the you-know-what hits the fan, it's not a foregone conclusion that we have to pay attention to it."

As for me I'm changing the channel to other programs. Some healthy coping behaviors from the article: listening to music, reading, exercising or walking (maybe not boot camp), spending time with family and friends, and praying/meditation. Any suggestions? Please put in comments if you've got thoughts! Also, does anyone meditate? If so, I would like to talk to you.

Monday/Tuesday stats
Monday workout: 45 min. Boot camp and 35 minutes elliptical, walk to lunch (20 minutes)
Tuesday: none
Food Choices: Good!
Spending: okay...bought expensive comfortable brown sandals. Cheap ones always kill my feet. Still deciding whether to keep them...not a lot of choices around here. Turned in shoes to Green Closet and bought two shirts. (And I'm eco-friendly)!
Creativity: I started looking at my collection of beads I've got some presents to work on, and I want to make a necklace for myself. Reading more...a bit of journaling. Creativity as a stress reliever--I like it!

Want to read the whole article go to www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25200752/