Managing stress

…yeah. I feel like I could write a book on this topic. I have been refusing to get stressed out about things, and it’s really done me some good!

Around the House

Aaron and I both contribute equally to maintaining the house. I try to keep up on the light cleaning from day to day because when the weekend gets here I hate trying to relax inside of a disaster area. Aaron will do laundry, or cook, or clean if I ask him to, and I just love that about him. Last Thursday he cooked me dinner and bought me flowers.. both were on the table when I got home from work. Last night he made dinner again, delicious as always. He makes the best oven-fried potatoes. Anyway. With the two of us keeping up around the house, no reason to get stressed there.

At Work

Things at work have calmed down a little bit… stressful situations come and go. I personally will not work over my 35-40 hours per week. I learned when I was teaching full-time that no job is worth one’s sanity. I was very efficient at getting things accomplished while I was at work. When I came home, that was my time to relax and get ready for the next day, minus grading essays or midterms or something like that. When Aaron was gone for those two years (how glad I am to say that in the past tense!) I had enough to stress about; why add anything to the pile? So at work these days, I try to be as efficient as I can. I take my lunch breaks, although they’re not always an hour, and I do something to chill out. One day I even brought my knitting. I know; I’m such an old lady. I just refuse to have health problems that hinge on stress at work. Life’s too short for that.

In Our Marriage

Having a stress-free marriage is a lot of work, but it’s so worth it. We purposely and intentionally make time for each other. Recently we’ve been trying to pay more on debt, which means less fun money. Since we’re homebodies anyway, a weekend laying around watching Smallville doesn’t bother us at all. I’ve also been knitting a lot so I get plenty of time to do that. 🙂 Aaron’s been stateside for almost five months now, and even though it’s gone by fast, we still cherish the time we have together. I am SO looking forward to being together for the holidays this year.

In general, I spent the first 22 years of my life being stressed out… I guess when we have children I’ll have to revisit this stress management thing. 😉

Short post for today; lately I just haven’t had any amazing ideas for blogs come to me. Guess I’m too busy not being stressed out. 🙂 I wish I could post pictures of Christmas gifts I’ve been making, but that’ll have to wait for later. Wish us luck as we embark on marathon training this week!