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September 9, 2009

Stress

Yesterday was a bad day. It got better once I had my practical exam on shoulder and cervical spine examination and intervention.

But before that, I had to wash the cat. Everybody knows that cats don't like to be washed and Neko (aka il duce) was no exception. Usually, cats are self-cleaning, one of the great things about cats, but in this case, a drawback. You see, he laid in some bug spray we used to eliminate a water bug we discovered while we were trying to clear a path for the washer and dryer. He wanted to watch the bug, which put him in the path of being stepped on. Pets are known to help improve people's health, but they can also present risks for falls.

So we haven't been able to do laundry for a week, because our dryer unit broke. My house was smelling less than fresh so I was motivated to do some spring cleaning this past weekend. My success was short lived.

While studying for my practical, I noticed I couldn't concentrate because the cat litter box had begun to reek. It was time to change the litter because I had scooped most of it out. Our other cat, Rilo, is litter box challenged and doesn't do a good job covering her business. So I went to scoop the box and discovered it needed to be emptied completely and bleached out.

But before I could do that, I had to throw the litter away. There wasn't room in the garbage because it was over-flowing (pet peeve). Take the garbage to the outside cans and not only will that job be done, but the cat litter smell will be fully removed from the house. However, because the garbage was overfull, the can liner ripped. That's when I discovered the overripe cantaloupe we threw out the other day, only now I was wearing it. Transferring the garbage to an untorn bag was not as easy as I had hoped (remember, the original was over-filled). So I took the whole sloppy mess down to the outside cans, all of which are full to over-flowing because of the Labor Day weekend and no trash pick-up.

I should mention at this point the other development which creates a great deal of stress for me. I know that much of the stresses we face in life come from the attributes we put on the stressor. However, we live in an apartment and have recently developed a bug problem. This development coincided with the departure of undesirable neighbors (we basically traded one stressor for another). We threw a party when these folks left, no longer fearing we would be robbed when we went out for groceries. Unfortunately, hundreds of their friends and neighbors stayed behind to take up residence in our place. The urge to dismantle my entire kitchen, spray, dust with boric acid and seal every crevice is overwhelming. However, I have a mid-term and a practical coming up this week. What rotten timing.

None of this morning's annoyances would have resulted in major stressors for me if we hadn't run out of bananas. Getting over-hungry is not good for me. Besides being a migraine headache trigger for me, I also turn into Godzilla. I understand running out of things, but we were just at the store the night before (pet peeve). I remember asking if we needed bananas (apparently, we had bananas the night before), and I got a "no" answer. My definition of "need" and somebody else's definition of "need" may not be factoring in Godzilla.

This reminds me about a concept called "HALT" that they discuss in Alcoholics Anonymous. It may have originally been developed to stop and make people think before they drink, but it's a concept that can work for all of us. HALT basically says to stop and consider if you're Hungry, Angry, Lonely or Tired. If your bad behavior is driven by one of these conditions, then fix the condition and see if the urge to misbehave remains.

I was living with three of the four conditions. I was hungry because I did not have any quick breakfast food. I was angry because I had a test looming over me (I hate tests -- they make me feel inadequate). I was tired because I hadn't slept well. I usually don't sleep well before a test, but the situation was aggravated by the late-night antics of "il duce" who decided the food in his bowl was not quite fresh enough. He got his comeuppance. He was the cat who ended up getting a bath. Revenge is sweet.

tags: massage massagetherapy wellness massage therapy bodywork health

Posted by linda at September 9, 2009 12:52 PM

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