My Battle Against Stress!

Meredith Viera had a 2 minute interview this morning on the Today show that has been in my brain all day.



So we as women are taking this economic situation, plus our family stuff, plus our jobs, plus our children's behavior, plus our attempts to please others and we are doing ourselves in! I have read so many blogs, personal messages, and notes in the last 48 hours from friends and complete strangers that demonstrate this to me.

You may (or maybe not) know that I am blogging over at the BlubHer Overhaul. I have seen so many ladies struggling with stress eating or lack of motivation for working out or just being sick. And now I'm wondering how much of it is linked.

I have friends who have said to me on numerous occasions, "I just can't beat these blahs!" And I wonder if they really mean "I just can't beat this stress."

So of course having had all day and 2 loads of laundry (and the motivation of my own stresses) to ponder this, I started to ask myself "So what do we do to battle it?" Exercise? Eat right? Meditate? Pray? All very valid solutions I told myself. But I want more.

What can I do to help other women battle back against stress? Is it just a matter of leaving a comment on every blog I visit? Is it sending a random e-mail to tell someone I care? Is it praying for other people that I see hurting? But I still want more!

You may or may not have seen Copacabana last week -here's hoping you missed it! But that is what I want to do! I want to start a "Pay it Forward" style campaign. I want women to reach out to other women and make them smile. Even if it's only for a little minute, enough of those minutes from enough other people will make a difference.

I have seen so many references to medications, depression, and stress that I wonder if the tide can be turned. I am an optimist. I believe that it can be. But people have to look outside of their own meditation, exercise, dieting, and prayer and try to help other people. I come back to the gas situation I faced last week. I have no idea what effect if any my half a tank left behind had, but I have to believe it helped someone.

Help me. It's not an official campaign. I don't have a happy blog button for anyone to carry around. It's just what is right. So if you see someone today who needs a smile, tell them a quick joke or just smile at them. You may just save their life.

I can't go to the grocery store alone.

I mean I can physically go alone (I live for it actually!) but I shouldn't be allowed too much time in the grocery store alone. Aside from the people watching, which is an art form in itself, there's just too much to see in the grocery store. I had to get 2 prescriptions filled today and decided since Publix was going to fill one of them for free I would get them filled there.


So I dropped off my scripts and decided to kill 20 minutes in the magazine aisle. Holy Cow!! This was a blogger's dream! Have you ever REALLY looked at the magazine rack in the grocery store?


Crawl. I thought it would be a baby magazine? Nope. All about off roading. Huh?


Seed. Gardening magazine? Nope. Science. Small connection there but that doesn't explain the robot on the cover.


Ode. The magazine for intelligent optimists. No kidding. That's their tag line. Is there a mag for stupid pessimists too?


Psychology Today was on the stand right beside Gospel Today. I just found that quirky.


But the piece de resistance? And this is a real magazine! Garden & Gun. Tag line? Soul of the New South.

Boy am I proud to live south of the Mason Dixon! Are you kidding me? There's a magazine about gardening and guns?! I didn't believe it and I couldn't bring myself to remove it from the rack so I came home and Googled it. In scanning it online, it actually looks like a magazine I would find interesting!

I'd stay and share more thoughts on the grocery store (why is there even a market for generic bottled water?) but apparently I need to go clean my 12 gauge and wash my garden gloves.