Stress Relief (Part 3)

See Part 1 and Part 2

After yesterday's pretty intense posts, I thought I'd take it down a couple thousand notches today :). Stress is such an interesting dynamic in our lives. Everyone experiences it and everyone handles stress relief in different ways. Today I want to talk about MUSIC!

I love music! (Does anyone not love music?) When I was a teenager, I used music to feel like I belonged and that other people could sympathize with my emotions--have I mentioned what a dramatic teenager I was? I'm terrified for J's teenage years because I know I will get everything I did to my parents back X 20! Now days, I feel like music is more of an escape from my everyday stresses. It lets me loosen up and let go of the world around me. I love to jam-out! I'll be so sad the day J doesn't want to dance with me in the car anymore!

Lately, I've been a music buying fiend! Getting new music is so exciting to me. I'm totally that person that will buy a song and then listen to it on repeat until I'm sick of it. Or I'll be a few new songs and listen to all of them on repeat until I get sick of them. Lately, I've been wanting songs I can workout to. You should know, I'm not like most people where they need crazy-fast, adrenaline pumping music when I work out. I like songs that I can either (a) dance to or (b) sing along to. Here are my new buys:

I have been loving Maroon 5, lately! I bought the songs, "Daylight" and "One More Night." 

I loved this movie! I want to download more from this album, but I need to pace myself so I don't download us out of house and home. I bought the song, "Pool Mashup: Just the Way You Are." 

Despite the awkwardness of the 'shower scene' in Pitch Perfect,  I loved the slow version of "Titanium" that she sang. Sadly, it wasn't on the soundtrack, so I bought this version instead. I'd never heard of this singer before, but she has a great voice!

I LOVE Ne-yo! This song is great for wanting your body to just dance and move!

Say what you will about T-Swift's dating life, she sucks me in with her ridiculously teeny-bopper style! I didn't love this album as much as I have some of her others from the past. I downloaded "I Knew You Were Trouble" and "State of Grace." 'Trouble' gets you moving and 'State of Grace' is just fun to sing and listen to.

There's been so much hype lately about Justin Timberlake's new album. Overall, I'm not the biggest fan. By that I mean, I will download individual songs, but I doubt I could just buy the whole album and listen to it on repeat. Don't get me wrong, I've been a JT fan since N*Sync, but this just wasn't doing it for me. So far I've only bought the song "Mirrors" and that is my new JAM!! For the disappointment I felt for the album as a whole, this song is so awesome! It makes me want to sing and dance. I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that this was on repeat at the gym for me today and kept me on the treadmill for about a half mile longer than I was planning on! 

Proof!

I love the way that music can make you feel so happy! For better or for worse, it really can dictate your mood if you let it.

What songs are you loving lately?

Do you listen to songs on repeat and run them into the ground like me? Or do you have more self-control? (ha!)

Thoughts on my new buys? Love 'em or hate 'em? (It's cool if you hate them, I'm secure enough to hear your honest opinion :))

Stress Relief (Part 2)

See Stress Relief (Part 1) to get a little bit more of a background on why I'm doing this. Today's topic is organization. Now, this is such a huge topic! Last month I gave a presentation to my church group about organization. After 45 minutes we had barely even scratched the surface of all we wanted to share and discuss with each other. I'm sure organization will come up again in these next few weeks, but today I will touch on just one concept that made a huge difference in the organization of our home.

Source

We have been living in the Seattle area for the past 5 months while K does training for work. Before that we lived in Utah, and at the end of February we'll move permanently to Chicago. Since we are only living in Seattle for 6 months, we had to sign a short term lease (hello crazy high rent), so we went from an 1100 square foot apartment to about an 800 square foot apartment. K and I are already minimalist, but that is just a really small space for 3 people! So I had to get organized so we didn't go crazy while living here.

The motto I tried to use, and still use everyday when picking up the house is, "Every thing has a place, and ever place has a purpose." When you live in a larger space, it's easy to take your car keys and mail and just throw them on the kitchen table, but in such a confined space, a simple act like that makes the entire living area seem so cluttered. I can't stand clutter! Clutter = Stress (Am I alone in this?). While the kitchen table could potential be a place for the mail and car keys, it doesn't serve the purpose of those items. Instead, we have a box for the car keys and I try to go through the mail and decide what to do with it right away so that we don't start having piles. We've learned from apartments past, once the piles start, they only get bigger and the number of piles continues to multiply!

Another example. As a result of the way our 'L-shaped' couch is positioned, we started getting in the habit of taking off our coats and just leaving them on the back of the couch.  It's pretty ridiculous because the coat closet is seriously 5 more feet away, but for some reason the task of putting our coats back on the hanger was just too much! I started to get into this funk where I couldn't stand our apartment, when I realized, "Hang up your coats!" That one simple act made everything look so much cleaner and neat. Again, clutter = stress.

 As I've applied this principle to my life, I've enjoyed being home a lot more--which is a good thing considering how much time J and I spend at home. Also, I've had a lot less stressful  moments of not being able to find items because, since every thing has a specific place, it is always where I want it. Another benefit I've seen of being organized is that it saves you money! "Crisis purchases" related to disorganization could cost as much as 15 to 20% of your annual budget. "Crisis purchases" are when you buy duplicates of misplaced or broken items or last minute shopping at premium prices (Julie Morgenstern, professional organizer).

Try it out as you go through your house today, "Every thing has a place, and every place has a purpose." You'll be amazed by how many little items there are in random corners or shelves.


What areas of life are you the most organized?
-in my house, especially community living spaces

What areas are you the least organized?
-my car, ugh, don't even look in my back seat!

What are some organizational tips you like to use or that you've learned before?

Stress Relief (Part 1)

Several studies have been done that connect negative stress with heart disease and stroke. A few years ago I started having little mini-panic attacks. I had never dealt with anxiety or panic attacks before, so it was really scary for me when they would happened. Since I had just started going through the Health Science Education program at BYU, I knew a little bit about anxiety. I decided I would start to take notes on what was going on with me or around me when the panic attacks started.

I began to notice that I would always have the panic attacks right before bed after I had said my prayers. Now, prayers aren't a very stressful activity for me, so that timing seemed odd. However, as I started to pay more attention to my mood and thought process that was happening when the panic attacks would set in, I realized that they happened at that time because before, during, and after my prayers is the time I always had to think about my day/life and what was going on. At that time, I had a lot of changes happening in my life (deciding what major to pursue, friends leaving and moving away). At that point in my life, I was not very good with change--I resisted it as much as possible. I realized that I was having panic attacks over all the situations in my life that I had no control over (can you say, 'control freak!').

I decided that I could either keep having these panic attacks, or I could realize that I only have so much control of what happens in my life. I had to find a way to deal with my stress or that anxiety was going to turn into a very real and debilitating problem. (Note: anxiety is such a serious problem for others, mine does not even come close to comparing with what others deal with). I figured, as an adult, that most people would frown upon me kicking and screaming when I don't get my way, so I needed to find another outlet. In the next few weeks I want to highlight some of the different actions I take to reduce the stress in my life. The one I want to start with is exercise.

Picture from the first, and last, time I ever played racquetball.

Exercise is a tricky subject for me. I played competitive soccer from the time I was nine. For a very long time I had hopes and dreams of going on and playing in college. I wasn't good enough to play for BYU (where I wanted to go to school) and I cared too much about my education to go to any of the smaller schools that were interested in me.  So I quit. I went from training 20+ hours a week to having all the time in the world and no set schedule on when I was supposed to be at the gym. It was a little eerie, but also invigorating! I would go to the gym here or there, but I mostly just felt burned out from all my years of training. Once I started teaching and became a mom, I went from an occasional trip to the gym to just about never working out. As I started to turn into a basket case get stressed from life, I knew I needed to start exercising again. So, don't think I'm perfect, I've gone up and down with my exercise habits...I just happen to be in an upswing at the moment!

I've found what really helps me to keep motivated and go to the gym is to constantly mix it up. Since I've joined the gym I have done the Zumba, aquafit, and yoga classes. It sort of depends on the week, but I rotate those classes into using the treadmill one day, the bike another, lifting weights, and working on my core (sit ups and stuff like that). It's nice because I think J and I need breaks from each other! She gets to go play with the kids for an hour while I exercise. I don't like the idea of daycares, so it's great because I can just pop my head in or look through the window to make sure everything is legit. I definitely don't push myself like I used to be pushed when I was training for soccer. Someday I hope I will get back to that point, but for now my motto is, "It's all about the endorphins!" (I got that from my awesome marathon friend, this was her motto when she was pregnant). The endorphins that are released during exercise help me to be happy and more emotionally level throughout the day. It gives me a time and a place to work through the stressful situations that may be happening in life (insert nasty thoughts about packing up all of our belongings and moving across the country...again!!)

HOLY NOVEL! Gold star if you are still reading!

Do you exercise? 

If no, what gets in your way? 

If yes, what helps you stay motivated to keep going? What are your favorite forms of exercise?

What are some of your favorite stress relievers?