Don't You Forget About Me: Just Checking In

*Simple Minds

Ok so, I'm just checking in to let ya'll know that I haven't forgotten about you. It's been a sort of hectic kind of week or two, with a bit of unregulated laziness. You see, I've been trying to get used to this 3 hour time change, but not very diligently. This causes me to wake up no earlier than 9:30 everyday.

I've also been in the fruitless search of a decent job. I even went on a two-hour interview yesterday. At the very end of said interview, as I was saying my thank-yous and goodbyes, my interviewer informed be that she was "not hiring right this second," but that she would let me know when something becomes available. Excuse me? This is information that would have been helpful to me YESTERDAY!!! Well, you know, before the interview. Or two weeks ago when I had the phone interview.

So now my granny's sick. She's got pneumonia in both of her lungs, and she was admitted into the hospital today. My mom and I are going up to Virginia to see her. So, as you can see, I have been a bit distracted. Oh, and I'm having lunch with my childhood best friend tomorrow. We haven't seen each other in 15 years and I just found her a couple weeks ago on Myspace.

If I have any advice today, it's this. Get your priorities straight. Know what's more important. Family or job. Money or lack of stress.

I Need Perspective 'Cause I'm Facing the Wall: Putting Things Into Perspective

*Peter Gabriel

Ok so, I know it's been a long time since I've posted; I've been really busy. In the space of a week, I flew from Phoenix to Raleigh, drove to Wilmington, drove back to Raleigh, drove to Charleston, drove back to Raleigh, and then returned to Phoenix. And now that I'm back, I'm continuing the pattern. In fact, I have other things that I should be doing right now. Packing, for instance. You see, I'm moving back to the Raleigh area tomorrow.

And there are a lot of things that could be stressing me out. I'm flying standby in the wake of a hurricane that hit my connection airport. I'm taking my infant niece with me, and we're flying alone. I have a job interview next week, if they haven't filled it by the time I get there. I'm moving in with my parents until I find a place to live on my own. I'm looking at condos to possibly purchase, and I'm not sure I'll have a large enough down payment to get financing.

I have a lot to be preoccupied with, but what good is that? It doesn't give me anymore money or time or peace. So I have to put things into perspective. There are several ways I've found helpful to do this.

When I was in college, I had an off-the-charts low stress level. And I was living with an off-the-charts highly stressed individual. Don't get me wrong, she had plenty of reasons to be stressed, but I definitely cherish my, for the most part, low-stress college experience. Whenever I would have a paper due or a test coming up that was turning into a reason to worry or feel anxious, I would ask myself one question. "When I'm 70, will it matter if I passed this Math 107 class?" or "When I'm 70, will it matter if I made an A+ or a C- on this Intro to Psych paper?" The answer was always a definitive no. And I would almost immediately stop worrying about it. Now I'm not saying that the present doesn't matter; it absolutely does. The future depends on it. But sometimes we get so caught up in it that we start to think that's all there is. There is a long run. And it's more important that the short term.

If you're not good at destressing yourself, then try a buddy. An honest friend who cares enough to listen to your worries and tell you the truth. Someone outside of your emotional box has the perspective to see what's a major deal in your life and what will make little impact. This person can also offer advice on how to handle the stressful situations that pop up, and support through the ones that linger.

My final suggestion is a journal. This can act as documentation for your life, which can help you to remember how you handled other situations in the past, and remind you how insignificant some things can be. Also, the simple act of writing something out can be a calming agent. It can help you to express yourself without fear of judgement from your audience. It can be a canvas for you to work things out that you just couldn't get straight in your head. It can help you purge the worries from your system. Sometimes it just feels better when they're on paper where you can look at them, or crumple them up and throw them away.

Large amounts of negative stress can become physically unhealthy, lead to a lower quality of life, and even fewer years. So, whatever your worries, just remember to get some perspective before they take over your thought process. If God can make the universe, and everything in it, in 6 days, He can certainly take on your latest worry.

"Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of it's own." -Matthew 6:34

"Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere." -Glenn Turner

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." -Philippians 4:13

"Drag your thoughts away from your troubles... by the ears, by the heels, or any other way you can manage it." -Mark Twain