The Stress of Summer

Like most of you, I’ve had a busy start to the summer. With kid camp schedules, weekend commitments and looming deadlines I’ve felt that old familiar feeling of overwhelm and stress.  I started to do what most of us do under stress: clench.  I have felt it physically, in my jaw, my shoulders and gut.  My family has felt my stress too when I’ve been cranky and impatient with them. As I’ve observed myself react to my circumstances, I (thankfully) remembered what I tell my clients to do when they’re overwhelmed: breathe and stay present to what’s happening.The more I breathe calmly, the more my body relaxes.  When my body unclenches, my mind calms down too and I ultimately feel less stressed and more resourceful.  I remember what I’m experiencing isn’t permanent and it’s just what is happening right now. From a place of resourcefulness, I was able to take objective action. I adjusted my schedule and put boundaries around the things that are most important – like writing time for next book.  Instead of resisting the overwhelm, I just let it be there and realized I can still feel present and grounded, even with a lot on my plate. Yet again, this is the time when practicing presence has saved me from a downward spiral of stress.Trust me, my presence is being tested right now.  As much as I try to anticipate the stress that comes with the transition to summer, there have been a series of events that I simply could not predict. We surpsingly found wet carpet and mold in our basement, my mother’s surgery took a few scary turns and I lost a major portion of writing for the next book.  If there were a time I might lose it, June would have been it.Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t “perfect” – I had a little breakdown or two.  I saw my old patterns come up – trying to control things I couldn’t control, losing sleep and stressing, but the bottom line is presence isn’t about perfection or always being even-keeled.  It’s about being able to observe your reactions as quickly as possible and bring yourself back to a place of awareness and objectivity.  Granted, this wasn’t a particularly fun few weeks, but once I could bring myself back to presence, everything got easier.  I felt like I was more in the flow of life - deadlines were met with more ease, innovative ideas popped in my head from “out of the blue” and I’ve sincerely enjoyed some special moments with the people I love most. Experiment:If summer is feeling stressful for you, I get it.  It is a time when a lot of our energy is going outward toward seasonal activities and events.  If you feel yourself teetering toward stress or overwhelm remember that you don’t have to stay in it.  Experiment with breathing, creating a bit more space for you and maybe even saying “no” to an event or two.