But seriously guys, I’ve been mostly unemployed since the beginning of February. A little work here, a little work there, but thankgodforunemployment ‘cause how am I paying rent this month? I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t stressed out.
It does get completely overwhelming, especially this time of the month when all the bills are coming due. Sometimes the stress manifests itself in really bizarre ways. Take the other night; I had just gotten home from San Diego and Comic Con and a brilliant weekend. Real life came back and some of that reality was unpleasant. Like the balance of my bank account (not surprising even though I spent next to zero dollars over the weekend).
I went into the kitchen to make dinner and was immediately confronted with a sink full, no, not full, OVER-FLOWING with dirty dishes. I was tempted to ignore the mess but of course items I needed were buried in there. So I pushed back my sleeves and started washing dishes.
Mid-scrub on a mashed potato encrusted mixing spoon I lost it. I started bawling over the dirty dishes. WTF right? Something about the potato that would just not come off put me over the edge. All I wanted was a quick dinner and a clean spoon and knife and cutting board so I could make that happen. But no! I had been thwarted by potato!
It’s actually kind of funny to think about it now.
And this is the part where I unwind.
I let myself have a good little cry and a few minutes of self-pity. Then I put the potato spoon down since I did’t really need that particular spoon. I picked up the knife, went to the cutting board, and chopped the hell out of some onion. After a few minutes I felt better.
After a large glass of wine and a giant pot of simmering veggie chili on the stove, I felt amazing.
Cooking is one of my favorite unwinding activities. It requires focus so my mind is forced to stop wandering for a while. All I think about are flavors and spices and tasks. When I’m finished, I have something delicious to enjoy. So not only does it take my mind off of stressful things, it gives me a reward for all of my hard work! It's great.
The wine doesn’t hurt either.
****
Some other unwinding things I do:
-Take pictures
-Bike rides
-Phone chats
-Drink some good coffee
-Happy Hours with the friends
-Beer! And I mean a good tasty beer, not a whole bunch of gross PBR type beer. Although I’ve been known to drink that on occasion when a certain former co-worker is involved. My current obsessions include all things Stone (but especially the IPA) and Flying Dog’s Gonzo. So good.
-And of course the old stand-byes of reading, movie watching, reading about movie watching…
Notice how I didn’t mention Facebook or Twitter? Yeah… just sayin.
(It’s my first Girl Talk Thursday! Happy Dance!)
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3 comments:
Yay Girl Talk Thursday!
I definitely use baking as an unwind sometimes... but man, cooking stresses me out. Weird how that shakes out differently.
great post...hope things start looking up for you soon, or you're going to have a lot of chopped onions ;)
Monkey - It is funny how that works. Different brain stuff being used? I like baking too. I like pretty much anything that gets me in the kitchen making something tasty.
Stacy - Thanks! Although I can never have too much chopped onion!
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