Managing Stress

Managing stress has never been easy for me. Logic seems to evade me during high stress times and my emotions run all over the place. I keep tension in my back, neck, arms - in essence, I lock myself right up and everything hurts. Thank God for hot tubs and intermittent sleep otherwise my muscles would never get a break.

Right now I'm managing 6 classes, which is more than I have ever taught - ever!!! This morning I learned that it takes more than double the time to blog for my classes now. You would think that after 2 years of teaching online I would have it down to a science, right? Nope! I have 2 new classes and I feel like I'm starting at ground zero all over again. Such is the flavor of life I guess.

When teaching a 'normal' in-person class there is usually about an hour or two of prep per week for lectures. Then you teach about 3 hours a week. 5-6 hours, not bad. I'm spending about double that time because three of my classes are new. Yeah, I'm going crazy. And it doesn't help that I put TONS of pressure on myself for perfection, connecting with students and making sure I 'look' like I know what I'm doing. The internal pressure is the driving force behind the stress. I must learn to breathe and let things go.

On a bit of a different note, I have finally ordered a new bed. One that should be comfortable. It's a 'tempurpedic' like bed from Costco. If this one doesn't workout, we're returning it and ordering the real thing. But the bed I ordered has some really good reviews so I'll give it a try. Costco has an amazing return policy, so we try to make big purchases there. They will take almost anything back even years and years later. It will be a few weeks before it's delivered, and we can't wait!

Until later.....