Stress – sometimes it takes a while to relax

Vacation is almost over – tomorrow we start our drive home. Instead of doing the 20 hours straight as we did on the way here, we’ll be stopping for the night half way through.

Although I’ve been enjoying myself since we arrived, it was only yesterday that I actually felt relaxed. I wasn’t exhausted or fatigued – I was feeling good, I felt happy and I really and truly enjoyed the day. It took *five* days for me to feel that way.

According to an article on WebMD :
(taken from the article)
- Forty-three percent of all adults suffer adverse health effects from stress.
- Seventy-five to 90% of all doctor's office visits are for stress-related ailments and complaints.
- Stress can play a part in problems such as headaches, high blood pressure, heart problems, diabetes, skin conditions, asthma, or arthritis in addition to depression and anxiety.
- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) declared stress a hazard of the workplace. Stress costs American industry more than $300 billion annually.
- The lifetime prevalence of an emotional disorder is more than 50%, often due to chronic, untreated stress reactions.

Why are we so stressed? Does life do it to us? Or do we do it to ourselves?

I think we do it to ourselves. A group of people can be exposed the same types of stress and some handle it well, others get stressed and anxious. I know in my case, the more stressed and anxious I get, the worse I make it by stressing about being stressed. It becomes a vicious circle.

Yesterday didn’t start as a good day. I hadn’t slept well at all, as I hadn’t for the previous 2 weeks. The longest stretch of sleep I could get was about 20 minutes each and every night. Of course, by the time I would get up in the morning, I’d be exhausted and frustrated by not being able to sleep. I’d try to catch a nap during the day, but that didn’t help my stress or mood.

Here on vacation, the sleep wasn’t getting any better at all and yesterday I got up feeling defeated. After sitting on the balcony, enjoying the view and weather, sipping my coffee, I decided to stop saying how tired I was and that I would focus on feeling good and not feeling anxious or stressed. I said to myself that I was going to lie down around 9 a.m. and take a nap. I would take a good, solid nap and I was going to wake up refreshed. And then, I was going to have a great day. I was going to feel relaxed and calm. I didn’t use any negative words in my thinking, I didn’t say what I wasn’t going to do (not feel tired, not feel stressed) but what I *was* going to do.

Guess what happened? I took a very refreshing 45 minute nap and had the best day of my vacation. We took a walk on the beach (wonderful!) had a great lunch, went to visit plantation gardens (beautiful) and had another great dinner. Not once did I feel like I had to curl up and go to sleep. Not once did I feel stressed or anxious. I felt great.

Of course, vacation is just about over. But that’s ok because I think I learned something valuable yesterday to take home with me. Every time I start to feel overwhelmed or stressed, I will think about the positive ways I’m going to deal with my feelings, not what I’m *not* going to do.

As for today, it’s raining. Kind of a bummer on our last day. But I’m not doing to say that it’s a shame because we can’t golf or we can’t go to the beach. I’m going to say, ok, it’s raining, I wanted to check out some local shops and stuff.

Have a great day everyone.

News for Today:
FDA Approves Nasal Influenza Vaccine for Use in Younger Children
American's TB didn't spread on flights: WHO
Crib bumper pads pose suffocation hazard: U.S. study
Drivers with dementia a growing problem, MDs warn
Parents' participation in medical decisions linked to self-efficacy
Cervical cancer screening: Too many are left unprotected
Antibiotics overprescribed by GPs
Alberta taking slow approach on HPV shots for school kids
Nighttime dialysis reduces blood pressure

Greetings from sunny North Carolina!

We are having a lovely time in sunny and beautiful Sunset Beach, NC. Except for the horrendous thunderstorm we had to drive through near the end of our 20-hour drive here on Friday night, we have had beautiful weather. Hot, but not too hot. The golf courses here are amazingly beautiful and very tricky to play. So tricky that I played worse than I played since I first learned how a few years ago!

So, this morning, my hubby and our friends are going out to golf while I, alas, work. I know, it’s my vacation, I shouldn’t be working, but I do have a project that’s due for review on Thursday and sometimes we have to do what we have to do. It’s ok, I played so badly that I’m much happier to stay behind.

I even have some news links for today:
Take an aerobics class, lower blood sugar: study
Kids in affluent countries more likely to have allergy-induced asthma: study
Daily pill may save blood clot patients

Health news for today

Don't forget to come back for my regular blog posts, back on the 24th. I'll be posting a couple of times from my vacation spot though, so you just never know what may pop up. :-)

News for today:
Fewer seniors taking higher-risk medications: CIHI study
Cephalon Drug Is Tied to Several Deaths
Mobile Phones Do No Harm, UK Report
Virus Link To Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?

Spelling tricks

A post on spelling tricks and language - for those who like my news links, they’re below as usual.

I decided to write on spelling tricks when I had to write a particular word yesterday many, many times but in a program without autocorrect. I just cannot, no matter how I try, remember how to spell resuscitate. It’s a word that absolutely will not get into this brain data bank of mine.

When my children were in elementary school, they faced the same spelling issues that most of us did when learning how to spell in English. They made the same errors and had the same frustrations. For instance, when to use/spell where, wear, their, there, its, it’s, and so on.

Luckily, I have a knack for spelling and didn’t have a lot of those same spelling issues. And, somehow without thinking about it too much, I was able to come up with some tricks that have helped them over the years. Remember, these are just tricks, they may not have any true basis in spelling history – that’s not the point. They’re only memory aids.

If you have any you’d like to add, please leave them in the comment section and I’ll put them all together and post a link for anyone to access if they want.

A lot – not alot. Why? The measurement is lot so as you would write a bag of apples, you would write a lot of apples.

A while – not awhile. Why? You write say aminute or anhour.

It’s versus its. When you are using it for possessive, as in “that dog has its own bed,” it does not have the apostrophe. How to remember? There’s no apostrophe in her or his: “that girl has her own bed,” or “that boy has his own bed.”

There versus their versus they’re. There is for pointing out a spot. The word here is in the word there. So, if you can write, “put that book over here,” you write: “put that book over there.” The apostrophe on they’re tells you right away it is a replacement for missing letters so it is a replacement for they are.

Where versus wear: - As with there, where has the word here in it. If you can write "Where is the book?" with “over here,” you spell it as where.

Here versus hear: you hear with your ear.

Peace versus piece: a piece is a section of something, like a pie. “I would like a piece of pie, please.”

How to spell

friend: Friend has an end on it.
their: Other than the “i before e” saying, you can remember that both there and their begin with the – always

accelerate: the word rate only has one R in the front

And, for those who need to write my name and can’t remember the letter order: think of the alphabet. MarIJKe.

That’s it’s for the week! I’m starting my vacation very early tomorrow morning. I may post sporadically over the next week but I’m back for sure as of the 24th. I have to – it’s my baby’s birthday. My third one will 16! Please check back if you enjoy reading my blog.

News for Today:

Prostate cancer drug can help identify aggressive tumours early: study
Childhood mortality worldwide drops to record low: UNICEF
Birth control reduces risk of certain cancers: study
Breastfeeding doesn't protect babies from asthma, allergies: study
Disease activity increases after MS patients stop drug
Doctors may need support to cope with patient death