My refuge: these two extremely opposite activities.
No self-pity but I have quite a lot of stress in my life. Some of the stress is caused by my own mistakes and weaknesses (so no self-pity!). The rest of it is just, well, life. Isn’t life stressful by its very design, from the moment we’re born into this world, in that very moment?
Some weeks, some days are especially bad. Like right now. I’m taking care —rather I’m struggling to take care — of my large family currently spread between the opposite coasts in the US and also different continents. I’ll spare the details; this story is not about my heroic efforts, embarrassing mistakes, and miserable failures.
So, the more stressed I get, the more I sleep. It’s not something I’m broadcasting as an achievement. I’m just sharing my experience. Actually, my sleeping habits are terrible. I wake up several times at night and check my emails and messages. But when I’m stressed, when I feel down, I sleep. I can sleep on the airplane, at my desk, in my car, at some place where I’m waiting for someone or something, anywhere, any time. Yes, I escape the world. My mind shuts the door and drifts away, to a place, where no one can reach me. Even if it’s for five minutes, no one can reach me. I heal my wounds, figuratively and literally.
Then there is another activity that helps me to destress. It’s not for everyone. I don’t even know how I do it but I do it. Yesterday was a bad day for all kinds of reasons, today is worse. So used activity #1 (sleep) to destress but there is another activity that helps me stay sane. Running. I don’t mean to glamorize running in this note. Running takes a lot of focus and a lot of energy. So though I’m a passionate runner, when my stress runs high, it’s not that easy to step out for a run. But somehow I still do, uncompromisingly. So this evening I went to a local high school track and I ran. In fact, I ran hard and fast. I ran intervals — four by one mile. At the end of the last mile, I was exhausted. I was injured in recent weeks so I took several breaks and have been gradually resuming my running routine. Tonight was the first hard session in many weeks. I was worried about my shape. My shape turned out fine. I ran fast.
And I was reborn. I was reset.
Of course, the problems don’t go away. But I’m glad I have some reliable ways of dealing with stress. As I’m writing this story, I’m realizing there is activity #3 that helps me cope with life’s challenges. Writing!
So my formula: sleep, run, write.
And eat vegetables too. This is my dinner after my run — three plates of spinach with olive oil, salt, pepper, and some parmesan cheese.
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