Stress

Most of you know that just over a year ago I was diagnosed with shingles. I was surprised to learn that I had developed a stress-related illness. Me, stress? Never!

Ok, maybe that's not exactly true. I recognize that I stress myself out way more than necessary. I am a woman and a perfectionist. Not a great combination. As a woman I tend to worry about things emotionally and the perfectionist in me stresses about all the things I'm trying to accomplish.

I recognize the problem I have and I really try to calm myself down. My wonderful husband is a huge help in this area, but just when I think I'm doing well, I end up at the doctor's office with a stress-induced condition.

Last night I felt some tension behind my left shoulder blade, but I thought it was nothing a good night's sleep wouldn't cure. I woke up at 6 in excruciating pain and could not get comfortable to sleep. I was in so much pain when Ben woke up that I told him I needed to go to the doctor. I try not to be a wimp when it comes to pain. Unfortunately, back pain is not uncommon for me, so it has to get pretty bad for me to think about taking medicine or going to the doctor. I think part of why I decided to go today was due to a small fear that I was about to erupt in shingles blisters at any moment and I wanted someone to tell me that was not the case.

I have been blessed with some great doctors whenever I come in to be checked out and today was no exception. When she was feeling my shoulders, she motioned for Ben to come over and feel them too. When he touched them he said, "oh my gosh, your shoulders are hard as boards!" I couldn't argue as I'm pretty sure every person dreams of having abs as hard as my shoulders currently are. Buns of Steel, Abs of Iron, and Shoulders of Diamond. The prescription when I had shingles was laughter and chocolate. Today, the doctor told me to go to the spa and for Ben to give me a massage. Maybe this is why I have so many stress problems! It's hard not to enjoy prescriptions like these.

So I was laid up the rest of the day with muscle relaxers and took a hot bath this evening. All of this seems to help loosen things up a little bit. I may see about going to one of the many baths in Budapest and getting some hydrotherapy.

What do you guys do to relieve stress? Especially those ladies and perfectionists out there! I try lots of things, but always seem to end up in the same place. The worst is when I actually don't feel stressed and then my body freaks out any tells me otherwise. What works for you?

Goodnight guys! I'm off to see if my sweet husband will fill the other part of the doctor's orders!