Taking a Break for Healthier Eyes

You guys! I’m feeling really overwhelmed today.

Feeling stressed

I’m not just talking about the everyday to-do’s like work and keeping up with the house and kids. I’m talking about all of that plus the added stress I feel to always take care of myself holistically. You know:

• Eating well AKA have fresh, healthy food at the ready - grocery shopping frequently. Let's face it, it’s so much faster to pop a pizza in the oven or grab fast food.
• Exercising daily (insert grumble here)
• Getting enough sleep For me, exercising daily generally means not getting enough sleep because my exercise routine begins at 4:30 in the morning or I just won’t have time.
• Working on my mental health Mental health therapy and Al-Anon recovery program from my ex-husband’s recent passing of complications due to the family disease of alcoholism.

And… Ahem… 

• Taking those pesky vitamins

Ugh.

How to lessen the stress

I’m in desperate need of a break from all.the.things. Is anyone else feeling me on this?

I know that each one of those things I listed above is imperative for my overall well-being. And, generally, I’m okay with it all. However, sometimes… I just get so tired. I find myself longing for a day or two where I don’t have to constantly be working toward bettering myself. It’s exhausting!

Changing the routine

When I start feeling this way I know I need to make a few changes to my daily routine, at least for a little while, or my anxiety will amp up and everything will just be significantly harder. I definitely don’t need anything to be significantly harder…

One small decision at a time

Just in case anyone else feels overwhelmed like I do, I thought I’d share some of the things I do to ease the burden.

You see, what I’ve realized is that my body knows when I need to make some adjustments. It’s very good about screaming at me, like… “Hey, Lady! Take a break, will ya?”

A creature of habit

I’m a creature of habit, so making changes isn’t always an easy thing for me to do, no matter how necessary it may feel. I combat this by making small changes that help me in big ways. For example, I take a chunk out of my Sunday morning to prep all of my fruits and veggies to store them for the week. This does three wonderful things for me.

Supporting good habits

First, it facilitates my healthy eating because I’m more apt to grab a healthy snack if it’s prepared and ready to go. Second, it eliminates me having to take the time to make dinners after a busy workday eliminating the stress of that; if it’s prepped, all I have to do is cook it. Finally, it frees up my time to do other things while I’m not making dinner each night. Maybe I can sleep in longer and exercise during the time where I’m usually cooking. This just requires a little thought and planning.

This works much better for me than just winging it.

Give yourself a break

Look, nobody says that we have to be perfect or accomplish all of our health goals every single day. Actually, that probably isn’t as healthy as one might think. There’s a reason why people who exercise need a rest day. If we push ourselves or our bodies too hard, it can actually be harmful.

I think what I need is a week off of my ‘extra’ morning to-dos. My mornings have a few things that absolutely have to be done in the mornings like filling the kids’ drink cups, lunches, and snacks for school- you know, the nonnegotiable.

Overwhelmed

When I feel overwhelmed like this, I decide to cut something negotiable out for a certain period of time. In order for me to feel at peace with it prepare myself for what the next morning will bring like: You’re sleeping in until 5:30 tomorrow, not working out (you’ll do that while our prepped dinner is in the oven), and tell your daily morning call you’ll catch up with her the next day. Something like that.

Put everything on pause

Sometimes I feel so overwhelmed that my life starts to feel unmanageable. This is no good. When this happens, I basically become a useless hot mess ball of anxiety.

This is when I need to really just stop and focus all my energy on relaxation and rest. I even took an entire week off of exercising completely once and it felt really refreshing. I got more sleep, I had more energy, and I found that by the time I started back up, I was reenergized in a way that made my workouts so much more effective.

How do you reduce your stress?

I’d love to hear some of your strategies for lessening that feeling of being overwhelmed, but still accomplishing your daily goals! And when all else fails, remember: grab an apple or a banana and drink lots of water… And then pop that pizza in the oven.

Andrea Junge