Stress- 7 Signs you are too stressed.

I feel like I have been running on a treadmill unable to get anywhere with all my tasks! Christmas gifts, getting home for Christmas, finding someone to look after my cat, things that need to be mailed, just overall tasks. Remember when I said I was not even that busy? I look to I was more focused and productive when I was working out everyday- But I have had a total of 4 workouts over the last month or longer. Oh and lets add I have not stayed within my calories for a week – possibly two. It sort of seems like every little positive thing, is coupled with 2 stressful or negative things. Updates:

• I will get to the winner of the HydroWhey soon! ( It was a Facebook giveaway just for people who like ShowmeAshley)
• I have started PT for my angry feet.
• Physical Therapy is GREAT for the PF
• My Tibialis injury that I wear that beautiful brace for- is getting worse. aka-My ankle is killing me
• I am freaking out about my two Half Marathons coming up
• This week in my 24 Day Challenge- I ate lots of chocolate. LOTS. Taking the supplements is about it… healthy diet was hit or miss.

I am so angry with our housing maintenance. It is has been about a week without a working garage, and now more things have just started to go wrong- That I can not not fix myself. I tried. Even Google has not helped me. Seriously. I did try multiple times. This house has been nothing but problems since moving in and I am talking my list is EXTENSIVE and most were not small things. My house is messy. I have piles of laundry to do/put away/ etc. So as I felt myself wanting to simply throw all my dishes in my sink in the trash or wall.

That was the moment I realized I was stressed out of my mind!

You might be thinking- wait I totally saw you were stressed by the first few sentences…Yeah. About that? I definitely knew I was mildly stressed about things I usually would find enjoyable. Then there was the fact I was dreading going home to my family. I knew something was terribly wrong!!! I miss not having family down the street, or around the corner as everyone lives pretty close proximity to everyone where I am from, even my husbands family lives within 30 minutes of mine.  The fact I viewed purchasing a flight, finding a cat watcher, and packing was causing me to want to curl up and go to bed? Yes. Red alert! I think I was working so hard at ignoring my stress to get things done, I stopped doing my usual tasks that reduce my stress- and I ended up getting LESS done. I read a great article a few days ago about stress on Fitness Magazine’s website it has GREAT points – I will admit I only read the first page of the article because I did not find the situations relevant to me. I should have continued on- and so I found this when I went back to reference it today.

Seven Signs You’re Too Stressed

• You feel that you need a drink at the end of the day.
• You’re irritable and short-tempered; you snap at people.
• You overeat or lose your appetite.
• You make more mistakes than usual.
• You have trouble paying attention.
• Your sleep habits change, especially if you repeatedly wake up very early in the morning, worrying about the same thing (such as credit card bills).
• You turn down social invitations because seeing friends and family seems like too much effort.

If you exhibit any one of these signs, chronic stress may ,be putting you on the road to depression. Take five to 10 minutes twice a day for deep, abdominal breathing (five seconds in, five seconds out) and do a daily workout of at least 30 minutes. Also consider asking your doc to refer you to a therapist for a stress assessment and treatment options. Sources: Marianne Legato, PhD, the founder and director of the Foundation for Gender-Specific Medicine at Columbia University; and Michael McKee, PhD, a clinical health psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic.

SO! Running through that checklist. No, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes. Shit. I KNEW stopping working out everyday was messing with me. So yes- The husband who takes out the trash has and  is deployed and I literally have forgotten to take the trash out 3 weeks running. Silly things that do not matter, and I am having a reaction to them because I am stressed.Trash? Why do I care!!

I am not stressed.

I think I said “ I am fine” , “ Doing great!” , “Nope, everything is going good” so many times I just tried to believe it. I mean- I taught coping skills. I was going through the motions of saying no to things when I felt overwhelmed, trying to get a little more sleep, bubble baths, chocolate- Yes. Chocolate DOES make you feel better. Haven’t you watched Harry Potter?? I honestly thought “ I have nothing to be stressed about!” a few times…

You can’t always control what stresses you out, but you can control your reaction to it.

I KNOW that, knew that, preach that. I could not even follow that! I even asked an old coworker last week when I was starting to get a little worried about my constant state of frazzle and irritation. I knew I was going to be hitting a meltdown point, and throwing my brand new dishes from my wedding are not it.

So – I made a list and I worked through just about all of it in about an hour. I felt productive, less stressed, and actually was not faking it. I have a to-call list, to-do list, and for me this instantly made me feel better listing out things that were a must do, should do, and think about doing later.

I am no where NEAR done, but I am going to ensure I start getting my workouts back in. It seems it all went down hill after the doctor took it away!   I hope everyone takes a little extra time for themselves this weekend 🙂 Maybe you will get snowed in and can catch up on fun stuff! ( See positive thinking now 😉