Now What?
by Deidra Mills
(Denton, TX)
Deidra Mills
How does it get to the point where I wake up, go to work, come home, and go to sleep just to repeat the cycle all over again tomorrow, and the next day…and the next? When did I get on this ride, and how do I get off? It seems that each day kind of runs into the other for me! How can I make this day significant? It’s an easy question to ask, but what can we really do? How can you really enjoy every moment?
Remember when you were young, and the only thing you had to worry about was having fun? That was our job. We didn’t have to worry about paying bills, keeping a job, owning a home, and least of all…these crazy gas prices! It seems that the older we get, the more we loose that “joy.” Perhaps it is because now that we are older, we watch the news, and are bombarded with death, shootings, car accidents, etc. Then again, maybe it’s the advertisements all around us, telling us that we would be happy if we bought a particular product, or if we were a just a little thinner more people might like us. Is this what life is really like? Are these the things that we should be worrying about? Why should we have to be anything but ourselves to be happy?
I don’t know about you, but some days, I find myself wondering, “Now what?” I get kind of stressed out even thinking about it. You get to a certain point in your life, and it happens…you wake up. You realize that life has just been going and you have been on autopilot the whole time. It feels like years go by, and we just press the “snooze” button. In fact, just the other day, I sat down in front of the television and became a vegetable for almost 4 hours straight! There was nothing in particular that I wanted to watch; I was just “relaxing.” The only thing is that half the day was gone, and I felt like I had wasted it. I was practically unconscious!
When life seems stressful, we tend to try to avoid what makes us stressed. In my case, I wanted to avoid all thinking, and just zone out on the television. However, it really didn’t alleviate my stress; it just postponed it. So, what are some helpful ways to deal with stress when life gets rough? Below are a few things that may benefit you, and help you to retain that joy that you’ve had in you all along!
1.Take a hot bubble bath, with lots of bubbles. While you’re in there, just sit back, and listen to your breathing. Listen to the silence in the room. Even if there is some background noise, just focus on your inhale and exhale. This will allow you to slow down your fast paced day, and help you to reconnect with your inner energy. Sometimes we just need to breathe!
2.Make it a spa-day- Heat up some water in a tea kettle or saucepan on the stove. Roll up 3-4 towels, and pour the hot water over them. Just pour enough water to make the towels hot and moist, but not soaked. (You can buy some inexpensive towels at the any dollar store. Once the towels are nice and hot, unfold them and let them aerate by unrolling them. Now, lie down on the floor or in the bathtub, and place the towels over your body. The heat will relax you, and loosen up your muscles that may be tense due to so much stress. You can wrap one towel around each of your feet, one towel over your legs, one over your upper body and arms, and place one towel over your eyes. If you choose to place a towel on your face, make sure that you leave an opening to breathe through.
After the towels have cooled, you can finish up by applying some warm lotion of your choice. You may warm up any lotion by placing the closed bottle in the same saucepan that you used to heat the water for the towels. Make sure that the saucepan has been removed from the stove top, and just place the lotion bottle in the hot water for about 2-3 minutes. This will thoroughly warm the lotion, and you can apply it liberally. All of your stress will melt away!
3.Read a book.-Light an aromatherapy candle, put on some soft music, and curl up with a book. Dive into an adventure in your book, and visualize the events as they unfold. This will stimulate your imagination as well as help you intellectually.
4.Feed some ducks- Go to a park where there might be some ducks, and bring along a bag of bread. It is entertaining and relaxing to throw bread in a pond for ducks, and you’ll catch yourself smiling without even knowing it. Nature always helps to free oneself from the rush of daily activities in the office. Just walking outside and getting a breath of fresh air will enliven your spirit. If you’re outside, at the park, you can lie down, and gaze at the clouds. Try to see what shapes they look like. It’s a fun way to live in the moment.
5.Star gaze- If you live in an area where there is not too much “light pollution” from the city, then grab a thermos of hot cocoa, and head outside for some star gazing. You can wish on shooting stars, and realize that there is so much more to life than what we realize! If you live in a city, where seeing the stars in all their glory is almost impossible, then head to a planetarium. There are usually planetariums at universities and sometimes at community colleges. They are open to the public, and are usually pretty inexpensive. Look them up on the Internet for your city, and enjoy the educational fun!
These are just a few of my favorite things to do when life gets too stressful. I hope they will help you find a little time where you can just relax and enjoy this wonderful life of yours! Cheers!
