Time Management to Reduce Stress

I am a nonstop, workaholic, go from sun up to sun down and beyond kind of girl.  That being said...everyone needs a break eventually.  That's how I roll.  I go really hard for a long time and then I'm done.  I can't make myself do anything.  My body (especially my brain) needs a break.  I wonder if other people feel like this as well?  I'm sure I'm not the only one.  

Right now, I am really struggling with time management and it's causing me a LOT of stress.  I feel completely overwhelmed and I am trying to find a way to sort it all out.  Everyone is busy with (insert your activities here).  For me, I work 40 hours training for one job (soon I will be on my own and will have more flexibility), commute 1/2 hour each way to do that, own my own separate business with my DH (which is time and space consuming) and am in the middle of a healthy lifestyle overhaul (also very time consuming with my obsessive nature).  That being said I love my life. I have a wonderful partner with the patience of a saint who would do anything to support me.  I am successful in business.  I have a great family.  So, I guess my point with that is that I am blessed and I know it.  That doesn't change the fact that I am beside myself with trying to balance all of my endeavors and maintain some semblance of sanity.

It just feels like there are not enough hours in the day.  We are taking steps to streamline some of these things because I am in lock up.  I can't function well under this level of constant stress and I take it out on the one I love the most.  That just isn't fair and is completely unacceptable to me.  So we adjust.

I used to smoke.  I've mentioned this before.  It was my stress reliever.  Considering I no longer have vices, I really need to come up with a better way to deal with stress.  I think the only way around this is to have a plan.  The first step in my plan is to eliminate and consolidate.  That goes in all areas of my life.

The relevant piece here is how it relates to my healthy lifestyle.  I have taken that WAY beyond what is necessary and it's time to cut back.  I feel like I am CONSTANTLY doing something related to my weight loss/health improvement program. Between tracking, planning, logging, measuring, eating, avoiding eating, working out, blogging, reviewing forums and networking -- I don't feel like there is any time to do anything else. I'm not saying that this level of intensity hasn't been beneficial but I am at a point where I need to scale it down a bit. I still have another 60 - 70 pounds to go so I have to maintain some of it but I need to cut back.  So, I eliminated 1 of my 3 blogs.  All it had was a recap of all the other blogs and tracking that I do.  I have most everything in My Fitness Pal.  I also am not going to update my Daily Burn Tracker.  I have plenty of trackers as it is.  

Another part of this is my workouts.  Typically, I get up early in the morning so that I can get my workout in before my work day starts.  There are times when I simply don't.  Those are the days that are especially difficult since I then have to take time away from my DH and our business to get my workout in.  He knows and I know that it's important to achieve these goals but it feels like such a burden.  I guess if it were easy then everyone would do it.  With the obesity level today, that's clearly not the case.

I am hoping that I can streamline some more things in my life so that I can spend less time stressing and more time enjoying.  That's a hard one but...I'm still fighting.

Stress and a healthy lifestyle

Sometimes the littlest things will make me tailspin.  I know when that happens that I am on stress overload.  That is not good for me or anyone else.  So how do I avoid this?  I really am asking.



For the most part, I try to put my head down and push forward.  I try to sleep not that it works very well with my mind going a mile a minute.  I intentionally watch what I eat since I am a well-documented emotional eater.  I exercise to take my mind off it.  But are these long term solutions?



In fact, I have even started to do yoga.  Never thought I would say that.  I am more of a dance the pounds off - jump around - lift weights kind of exerciser.  The thought that I could lay down and move slowly and still burn calories was kind of a strange thought for me.  I have found that I really enjoy it though.  That is when I can do it by myself.  My dog tends to like to help.  And by help I mean lick my face when I am in downward dog.  Very helpful and completely distracting.  Kind of hard to concentrate when there are random distractions.  But you do what you can right?



I used to smoke.  I thought that helped.  You know like the Snickers commercial - need a minute?  That's what I felt that smoking gave me - that minute to think about things and formulate a solution.  Considering I quit that unhealthy habit 3 years ago - I no longer have that minute.  My friend Scott used to take "pencil" breaks.  It was his version of a smoke break.  Maybe I will adopt that.  It worked for him.  Maybe it will work for me too.



Eventually everything works out and you can come out of the stress overload.  Although, it can take a while especially if you don't deal with it properly.  Some things are on cycles like money, family, work... I am always open to suggestions on ways around this so let me know what works for you.



Here's what Daily Burn had to say about it:

8 Signs You’re Way Too Stressed (and How to Relax)