Dealing with stress

Today I signed papers to put my house up for sale and so, yes, I’m dealing with stress. It’s a bittersweet moment. At one point, my husband, myself, my son, two dogs and two cats lived in this house. Now, it’s just me and I’ve been keeping this house going for what seems a long time. Being widowed adds a whole level of housework and chores to the schedule. So, it’s time to sell and move into something smaller that is easier to maintain. I know that I will be so relieved not to have the upkeep of this house. But still, this was my family home.

You know, it’s not really the house that is giving me pause. It’s going through the drawers, cabinets, and closets that is making me feel sad. Today I found a piece of paper on which I’d written a note to my son. I obviously was on my way to work and he was on summer vacation and old enough to be home alone but not old enough to be driving. It made me smile to remember those days. Then I realized that on the other side of the paper were notes and measurements that my husband had written for some project and just seeing his handwriting made me want to cry. There’s a lot of emotions in those things you’ve stuck in the back of a drawer.

Dealing with Stress

I’ve been dealing with a lot of anxiety because of all of this. and am trying to ease it in a variety of ways. I went for a massage this week, which was incredibly relaxing. I picked up an easy to read novel and periodically sit down and read a few pages. I talked to family and friends this week. Chris offered to help me with some work for our Becoming Elli podcast and instead of insisting I could do it, I accepted. Sometimes help from a friend is the greatest gift.

I worked out several times this week which helped tremendously. Because I’ve been so busy in the house, it’s been easy to skip my runs and workouts but because I had sessions scheduled with my trainer and friends, I got to the gym despite myself.  And that’s one of the things I talked about in ways to motivate yourself to workout. Make appointments and commitments.  It really does make you get yourself to the gym or the park or wherever you’re meeting someone. And moving your body and working out does improve your mood.

This isn’t my normal informative blog post so thank you for letting me share some of my personal life with you. I think this is the value of community that we keep talking about. We all go through different phases of life and those periods can bring benefits even though there can be a lot of stress.

Feel free to share some of the ways that you deal with stress.