Today was the first day of an eight week yoga based stress management course that my work was kind enough to enroll me in. Most people know me to be level headed and I am usually (visibly) unaffected by stress. However, I am under a great deal of stress right now so I am welcome participant.
It all starts with my worst and my best flaw. I pick my battles very carefully. There are many I choose not to fight simply because I know the outcome and refuse to try to effect change where I already know I can't. A perfect example is my wife's choice of cribs. They are very nice and have an attached changing table and built in drawers and shelves in addition to being convertible. At $499.99 each they are more than I really wanted to spend for three of them.
I rationalize the argument that will ensue by finding all of the positive points of the item and then make my decision to take a stand or not. These cribs will save us from having to buy a lot of additional storage and since I have already built a very nice closet organization system they will be almost enough. They are convertible and in the end we will end up with two pieces of furniture per crib. There are many other great things about them but the most important is that out of all of the cribs we have looked at my wife fell in love with these. That by itself is enough.
Where this becomes an issue is when I do this with all of the small things. Sometimes when you give in and give in and give in some more eventually you want to have it your way. That's where stress eats me up. In hindsight, when I loose it, it is always over something that I really think that I should have just kept my mouth shut on (and often wish I had).
Other than that, people really get on my nerves. I am a patient driver but one or two people a day make me want to ram them with my car. I can barely stand people who ask me to show them the same things over and over without ever really paying attention to what I am teaching. I often do the job for them because it will save me time. Tons of little things wind me up into a knot and I have to admit that even if it's just a couple of hours a week I will welcome the serenity of changing things up.
I was stuffing my lunch down so I would be able to make it to the 12:30 class and dripped something on my pants and I was looking around for Kelly Rippa with her magic tide pen. Sadly, all I could find was Jessica Simpson and Luke Wilson. They are filming Blonde Ambition across the street from our building today. Shreveport is becoming a movie making mecca. I got to watch the coffee shop scene from the coffee shop in the upcoming Demi Moore and Kevin Costner film Mr. Brooks and walk through the hallway that was dressed up as the crime lab everyday.
This is great for our city but makes it difficult to get around adding stress to my day.
I think I am going to like this stress management class as we get more into the yoga and less into the seeing someone’s energy. It couldn't come at a better time. My MIL might just drive me to a little room with padded walls and a nice jacket with shiny buckles that I have to look over my shoulders to see.