stress (str
s) n. a mentally or emotionally disruptive or upsetting condition occurring in response to adverse external influences and capable of affecting physical health.
It's been a difficult couple of weeks for Jen and me. We've been hit with a number of unforseen complications pertaining to the move, adding to the complications that we did forsee. (If I haven't mentioned it yet, we're moving from our apartment in Queens, NY to a house we're building in Ulster County, about 90 minutes upstate.)
People at work ask me, "How is the house coming along? You must be so excited!" I smile at them vacantly and answer, "Yeah, we're really excited. It's just stressful right now." If you've never had to coordinate the sale of one home with the purchase of another, especially one that is being built to your specifications, I suggest you stay put in your current abode for the rest of your natural life.
I'm just joking. It's a tremendous priviledge to be moving into new construction. And we knew it would be a stressful process going into it. But it's really put a strain on our day-to-day lives.
Jen and I deal with stress in different ways. Jen gets overwhelmed more easily than I do because of her ADD, and once the stress hits her, she has a hard time shifting out of it. I, on the other hand, cope with stress by ignoring the problem completely, assuring myself that everything is going to be alright. We end up getting frustrated with each other, when really what we should be doing is going for a walk and talking through the stress. So that's what we're going to do tonight.
How do you and your partner cope with stress? I would love some advice!
What works for me is doing breathing exercises - like breathing in for 5 or 9 seconds, holding it for a sec, then breathing out for 5 or 9 seconds.
It's a major help in slowing/centering my thoughts.
Posted by: Hersh | April 18, 2006 at 12:55 AM