Stress

Image by Tidewater Muse via Flickr

We all have it at some point in our lives. For me deadlines are the worst. I like to be early to appointments and meetings and feel terrible if I'm delayed by matters beyond my control. Before I had a car I was often on the edge of a bus seat if I thought I was going to miss a transport connection and I had an appointment at the other end. Interruption by time-wasting sales calls when I'm busy drives me pretty crazy and my family could probably tell many stories of my bad temper when I had a deadline and the computer or printer broke.

I find that concentrating on my breathing helps, just noticing the in and out breaths, even counting up to 10 breaths and starting again. A good joke will sometimes work, because it will make me laugh and then I can get a sense of proportion about the situation. My son gave me a stress ball once and it broke. It wasn't me really . . .