Back at the beginning of the season, I shared with TeamConfessioners that I didn’t want to create stress during this season of Confessions, or the school year, that doesn’t exist. Because creating magical stress seems to be an involuntary response for me, I’ve been paying close attention to the various ways I create stress that could be completely avoided.

Here are some examples and what I’m doing to change my approach:

1. I make up strict due dates for things that don’t need strict due dates. Do you guys ever do this? I’ve gotta get this done by tomorrow, that done by Thursday, and I absolutely need to grab those fall decorations from the basement in the first week of September—when it’s still summer!
   Now, I’m trying to pull the camera back before I stick a date on something that doesn’t need a date.
2. I schedule appointments and meetings back-to-back and don’t give myself enough “screw-up time” in between. As I’m racing down Rt. 1 in Guilford, I think: Did I really need to only give myself 15 minutes between these two events?
   There was a time when I had to do this, but now I consciously allow for more travel/transition time between events.
3. I schedule too much in one day… I’m especially guilty of doing this on weekends.
   If we’re locked into lots of events and sports on a particular weekend, I ask friends and family who want to get together if we can “play it by ear.” That way, we can make a game-time decision based on where everyone’s energy level is.
4. I don’t prioritize my own routine, which makes my week feel disconnected and causes things to pile up.
   This season, I’m getting better at putting my weekly events into my calendar because I often forget about them when I’m scheduling things. Another thing I had to get honest about was sticking to my writing routine even when I’m not feeling motivated. We all saw what happened in the beginning of the season—procrastination can cause a healthy amount of unneeded stress.
5. Reacting to things waaaay too quickly.
   My stress response can get revved up after receiving news, especially before I’ve even heard all the facts. The acronym PAUSE, which we’ve talked about in the past, really helps me with this: Postpone, Action, Until, Serenity, Exists.
6. I worry about things that aren’t going to happen or have never happened.
   Speaking of “pause,” my worry response has gotten annoyingly sensitive in this stage of perimenopause. Je-sus! All I know is that as soon as I feel myself projecting about things, I nip that crap in the bud. Worrying about things that haven’t happened—what a flippin’ waste of my time and energy!

Team, there is enough stress in life that I have no control over, I do not need to manufacture more. Paying attention to these old patterns over the last several weeks has had a notable impact on my serenity. So, I’m going to keep on keepin’ on. But, please remind me to re-listen to this episode right after Thanksgiving when I seem to toss all serenity out the door in exchange for every bit of manufactured stress I can get my grubby little hands on.

Until next week—thanks for listening, Team!