De-Stressing

Stress.  We all have it.  It attacks us at different times and for different reasons. 
I’ve been feeling a tad bit overwhelmed lately.  When I stop to think about my life, I realize that in the last 3 weeks I have buried my dad and have (am presently) moving to a new house, while not selling my other one.   Two semi-large stressors added to my life.  Then, if you add in the new baby chickens, that’s like additional family members right there, ain’t it?  I’d say they rank right up there with birthing a new baby, wouldn’t you?  I mean they have their own nursery for crying out loud.  I check on them constantly, make sure they’re breathing, and listen to their peeps through the baby monitor. 

Kidding, kidding. 

About the last part anyway.

Instead of packing, cleaning, unpacking my belongings, organizing for a garage sale, and doing things to help RELIEVE my stressors, instead I google stress just to see if I’m really stressed.  You know sometimes I need to confirm my thinking.  If I think I’m stressed, well by golly, I need to prove it to everyone else. 

There’s a little test you can take online.  It’s a simple inventory where you check off a few things that have happened in the past 24 months.  So I clicked away, and discovered that actually I’m not as stressed as I think I am.  So I must tell myself to Get. Over. It. and Get. On. With. It.

In my google searching, I found a little article however that talked of  the small things that actually stress us out more than we realize, and sometimes more than the big stuff.  Things like co-workers and facebook.  Can you believe facebook can be stressful?  Why yes, yes I can.  It is the absolute zapper of time, leaving us feeling more stressed because we don’t have time to do what we should’ve been doing while we were busy stalking and poking others.  This article also says it can play a big part on your emotions, leaving you feeling inadequate when you read that someone just met Their Mr. Perfect, while you’re still waiting by the phone.

So what do I do when I’m feeling overwhelmed, overcome, and overextended?

I hit the road walking.  I unplug myself from the busy world via technology and head out.  Now that we’ve moved outside the city limits, I have nothing but wide open spaces and a long country road to walk.  No cars and no dogs.  Just the singing of the birds and the blowing of an occasional train whistle falls on my ears.

I walk and I pray.  Out loud.  I thank God for everything.  I start counting blessings.  Being out in nature just makes me feel so blessed and thankful.  Lately I’ve been feeling so close to God the Creator.  I’m in awe of Him.

Look at this picture of brown dirt road, meeting green hay field,  meeting blue sky. 

This view speaks to me.

It says, “Hello, I’m God.”   And I speak back and simply say, “Thanks.”

While walking and talking with Him, He grants me peace and lets me know it’s okay.  Everything is okay.  It’s as if He says, “Angel, look around you.  Look at all this.  I did it. Nothing is too big for me. See the size of this Texas sky?”

Let me give you a link to this beautiful song. 

It’s saying what I’m trying to.