Last week at this time I was camped out on the couch with a box of Kleenex. My head was fuzzy and I couldn’t get my eyes to focus on a computer screen.
A friend of mine had the same thing and we kept texting one another about our feelings of yuck. She described it perfectly when she texted, “I feel like a steam roller started at my toes and stopped at my neck so now everything is squished into my head!”
When our brains are fuzzy like that it is hard to make decisions even simple ones like which hot tea to drink next.
My head is no longer fuzzy from a Sudafed hangover but now my desk looks like a disaster zone because of not working for a week. Papers are scattered with no real order except that if it’s on the desk it has some of kind of importance. (My next project after writing this post is tackling this piled mess.)
I’ve talked with more and more friends who are feeling stressed, over-stretched and worn thin from the daily grind and I’m thinking How can we change this? How can we make better choices in our days? Because I believe God’s desire is NOT for us to live in a perpetual cycle of crazy.
Our heads are fuzzy from stress and over-commitments even without the added Sudafed dose.
So how can we simplify our lives and slow down a bit?
Here are ideas I came up with off the top of my head…
- Have a goal – lay out objectives and goals of what a good day/week would look like
- Make a plan to achieve those goals/objectives – what has to happen to move towards those goals
- Ask good questions–
- What’s causing me the most stress?
- What can I eliminate from our schedule?
- What is catching me by surprise over and over?
- Get better sleep – (whether that means going to bed earlier, getting up earlier or better quality sleep and how do we do that?)
- Menu plan – stressing out over meals and simply getting healthy food down our gullet shouldn’t be a stress in our lives so how do we do that?
- Take time for ourselves to de-stress – that seems like a far away fantasy but what does that look like for you?
I would love to explore some of these things with you and figure out how to do this better together.
So in the comments below or on this Facebook page, I want to hear from you about…
- What causes you the most stress in life?
- What is your biggest struggle in these areas?
- Where are you winning?
- What tools have you found that help you win in these areas?
I’m guessing that by sharing together, we could find some answers to these things that fuzz up our heads and get us stressed out.
I’m looking forward to hearing from you on this and finding some solutions that we can work through in future posts!
Have a great day, friends!
~Rachel
Tripping Over Typeset 
Thank you for your article and input. I come from a very different place. I know the days I work and basically what I need to do most weeks. For me to have daily goals or objectives adds stress to my life. I do not do menu plans, my meals evolve upon what’s on sale, my schedule and what is going on in our lives and prepare meals accordingly. Meals have never stressed me. No set routine for sleep except for work and in bed by 10 and up at six. I live a very relaxed and mostly stress free life style and it could do with my personality, life style and age. I have learnt not to sweat the small stuff. Much wisdom in that however hard to do. Thank you, it made me examine my life style more closely under your headings. Blessings.
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There are those who function best with goals, objectives and menu plans for each day and it does help them cope better in our stressful society. There is no right or wrong. How do we honour ourselves. I think this is a great platform for discussion.
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Thank you. Yes, I would agree. Honoring ourselves and figuring out what works best for our families and our unique situation is best. Trying to live to another’s standard and lifestyle is not always good when what is asked of them is different than your life and personality. That is why I’m interested in how others do this and what works for them and their situation. Thanks for your input and words! 🙂 Blessings — R
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Right now, the BUSY-ness of life has been getting to me. Work, family, work, church, family, work………I think the biggest challenge with me in these areas is to realize my limitations and being able to “let go,” and to realize that I am doing “enough,” and that is okay. Guilt and fear of failing can be a terrible thing (right now, I love that Fear song by Zach Williams). I am learning to begin to think about taking care of myself within the busy of life. I think finding that time is challenging, but I am trying to remain persistent and realize that finding time to read His Word, play music, do exercise, snuggle with kids with a movie….whatever….is an important part to helping me juggle it all. I just need to keep being persistent!
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