11.04.2010

Stress... How do you handle it?

I think that's a legitimate question. Stress. We all have it at some point in our lives. Some of us have it more often than others. The clincher for me is how to handle stress. I don't do this well. Ask my wife. She'll tell you I'm intolerable when I'm stressed.

Some of my stress symptoms:

Prone to angry outbursts and since I've never been really good at speaking clearly, stress causes me to stutter something awful especially when I'm angry.

Exhaustion.

Excessive wandering. I don't even know where I'm wandering to. I just end up moving in and out of each of the rooms searching for something and than growing more and more irritated when I don't find it.

Cold feet. No, this isn't nervousness. I get cold (temperature) feet. Maybe this doesn't have anything to do with stress, but when I am stressed, cold feet really bug me. There aren't enough socks in the world!

And of course, night terrors. They're particularly bad when I'm stressed. Its hazardous to my health. I'm not that agile anymore and when my dream suddenly calls for gymnastic moves to avoid Anderson Cooper sneaking in through a doggy door, someone's bound to get hurt. Don't be worrying about Heidi. She can handle herself. It's me you've got to be concerned about. Heidi likes to throw punches.

Right now I'm stressed about a lot of things. Work (I work in retail and we've just entered the holiday season. Ouch.) My writing. My release party. My book sales. Whether or not my lego action figures are selling well on Ebay. There's no end to it.

My problem is I just don't know how to handle it. I've heard eating over-the-top milkshakes are a good start, but Heidi denies this. What can be done about this stress?

Oh, and we're one week away from my release party. Yep, you can expect more night terror stories in the immediate future.  But, on a side note, I may have a couple of ARCs (Advanced Reading Copies) of my new book due out in the spring. How's that for enticement? I plan on giving them away at the release party!!!

Also, I just need 2 more followers and I'll give away a signed copy of Hashbrown Winters and the Phantom of Pordunce. 2 more! That's it. And just think, 2 more followers may reduce my stress level just a bit.

7 comments:

PaigeE said...

I scream at the top of the lungs. Now that I have a baby I can't do that very often. That's ironic because I am stressed way more often now.
P.S. you don't know me personally but I used to work at CFI

Frank Cole said...

Paige! Nice to meet you. And screaming is awesome, but my wife hates when I try to outscream my kids because I always win...

Dan said...

Frank, I really connected with this topic. My first book is coming out this month, and I'm planning a release party too. Everyone thinks it's a blast (partly it is) but it's also stressful. I worry about how the story will be received, how the party will come along, etc. It's a stressful time, and no one else understands that. Thanks for making me see someone else in a similar boat feels the same way. I've been walking a lot to deal with my stress.

Frank, Heidi and Family said...

I would love to be relieve of stress with a deep-tissue massage, a long nap, and sunny beaches. But since that never happens I guess you could consider me a screamer. I'm sure our neighbors know by now that is how I handle stress.

Wendy Paul said...

I bake..... and bake..... and bake. In fact, my husbands office asks him if he will stress me out more often so they can benefit from being the taste testers.

Angie said...

I thought I was already an "official" follower, but I guess I wasn't. So there you go, chalk another one up!

Bean Recipes said...

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