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Om
How do I deal with stress? The biggest stressor in my life is work, which oddly enough, is one of the greatest joys in my life.
I’m not complaining. I get to do the job I love. I make a decent living. I work from home, on the shift that I prefer. However, by its very nature, journalism is a stressful career. You can’t surround yourself with death and destruction and crime and politics and twerking and not be affected. Well, I can’t anyway.
While I’m pretty good at maintaining my distance from the events of the day, I’m also human. Covering history as it happens can leave a person feeling emotionally and intellectually battered.
So how do I cope?
* I talk to M. He pays attention to what’s going on in the world. He’s compassionate. And his hugs are positively therapeutic.
* I drink tea. I firmly believe that freshly brewed tea, served in a favorite cup, will soothe both a tired body and an unsettled mind.
* I bake. The act of kneading or whipping ingredients into something delicious provides a physical outlet for channeling one’s aggressions. Plus, when you’re done, there’s dessert!
* I read. I can open a book or turn on my Kindle, and instantly lose myself in a romance, a mystery or a bit of poetry. As my eyes transform the words into stories, my mind is able to focus more on the characters’ problems than on my own. Books give me distance, distraction and, in some cases, enlightenment. (Once in a while though — and I’m looking at you Stephen King, Joe Hill and Chris Holm — the practice of reading to escape can lead to other emotions, particularly dread.)
* I watch movies. When I lived in New York City, I would spend almost every Friday morning at the multiplex, watching double- or triple-features. I did so because I love film, but also as a way to decompress. The movie theater has long been my dark sanctuary.
* I listen to music. Music is probably better for my soul than for my ears (I like it loud). Yet given the right tunes and enough time, most any stress can be defeated.
* I sit by the ocean. Once grounded to the sand, I look at the water and admire the ocean’s tempestuous nature. The horizon is vast, the air is salty, the wind blows through my hair and, in time, I am calmed.
* I wander in cemeteries. Most boneyards are beautiful in any season, perfect for wandering and wondering. They serve as memento mori as well; all problems pale in comparison to death. And, if your problem is death, a cemetery will offer a telling reminder that you are not alone in your pain.
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Rejection reaction
“The best reaction to a rejection slip is a sort of wild-eyed madness, an evil grin, and sitting yourself in front of the keyboard muttering, ‘Okay, you bastards. Try rejecting this!’ and then writing something so unbelievably brilliant that all other writers will disembowel themselves with their pens upon reading it because there’s nothing left to write. Because the rejection slips will arrive. And, if the books are published, then you can pretty much guarantee that bad reviews will be as well. And you’ll need to learn how to shrug and keep going. Or you stop, and get a real job.” –Neil Gaiman
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Habitually Odd
Do you have any odd or quirky habits? I think we all do things that seem normal in our everyday lives, but would be viewed as strange if anyone else — say on the Internet — saw us do them. For example, I cut my doughnuts into 12 equal pieces. And I eat each piece with a fork. I also rip the tabs off of pop cans, toss salt over my shoulder when the shaker falls and come to a complete stop at stop signs, even when there’s no other car for miles.
Speaking of the Internet and all its oddness…
About a week ago, my friend David posted a story on his Facebook feed that was titled “Facebook Makes Us Sadder And Less Satisfied, Study Finds.” David and I have known each other for about 10 years. However, we’ve never actually met in person. Our entire relationship has taken place online, first on Livejournal, then in email and now on Facebook.
The very fact that I know David, and his lovely wife Michelle (who I believe David met online), and the fact that he knows me and my husband M (whom I met online) shows that the Internet is a wonderful place for social interaction. Yet according to this article, which is based on a new University of Michigan study, using Facebook leads to declines in “moment-to-moment happiness and overall life satisfaction.”
After reading the story, I sparked a conversation with David online, and we engaged in a back and forth discussion about the study’s various merits and deficiencies. This text-based chat was quite enjoyable because it gave me the opportunity to talk with someone I’ve always liked (even though we’ve never met).
David and I could not have had that chat in person; we live 1,415 miles apart. Phone calls are even more difficult, due to the differences in our schedules. So without Facebook, or some other social network, we would not have been able to engage each other in this manner. That would have made me very unhappy.
Or perhaps the study is right, and I’m just odd.
Photo by Scott Ableman. Used with permission.
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Harvest 2013
It’s harvest time in the Walker-Weir household. Lots of veg and herbs to process for winter.
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