Blog 3

          For this assignment I have decided to identify my top three stressors.

1. I do not have enough time do complete all of my daily tasks and assignments on time.

          The contributing factors for this stressor is that I have too many activities going on at the same time.  As a full-time student, full-time employee, and a mother of 4, it is almost impossible to complete everything that I want to everyday.  I work from 8am to 5:30pm.  My son has baseball practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7pm to 9pm.  My daughter has t-ball practice on Mondays from 6pm to 7pm.  I am off work on Saturdays, but both of my children's baseball games are every Saturday.  This gives me very limited time to complete homework assignments and household chores.  My only free day is Sunday.  This means that on Sundays is when I try to do all the housework and homework assignments.  At the end of the day on Sundays, I am exhausted and getting things ready to start another week.  By the end of every day, I have trouble sleeping because I am thinking of everything that I did not finish. 
          One thing that I can do to help manage this stressor is to create a daily schedule and try to stay on schedule.  I think that if I can manage my time for efficiently, I can reduce stress.  I will try to get up at least 15 minutes earlier every day to complete this daily planner or checklist.

2. I am always behind in my household chores.

          This contributing factors for this stressor is that I continue to let my household chores pile up.  Instead of completing these chores at least one at a time, I become overwhelmed.  I prefer to avoid them and pretend that they don't exist.  Doing this causes them to keep piling up and they end up being one of my midnight thoughts that disturb my sleep.
          One thing that I can do to help manage this stressor is to organize the chores.  I need to create a chore list that includes daily chores and weekly chores.  I will also add these chores to categories ranging from the most urgent to the less urgent.  I need to learn a new routine.  For example, I can wash at least one load of laundry every day on my lunch break.  I can also wash some dishes so that when I come home after work there are less dishes to wash.  It seems that dishes is one of the never-ending chores that come along with having children.

3. I feel that I do not spend any time focusing on ME.

          The contributing factor to this stressor is, again, I do not have enough time.  I always tend to focus on the needs of others.  Although I know that this will never change, I also understand that if I can focus on myself too for at least a short time each day, I will have more energy to attend the needs of others.
          One thing that I can do to help manage this stressor is to add some "me time" in my daily planner.  I need to find where in my planner I can fit in at least 30 minutes for myself.  I use to be able to relax in a hot shower, but now that my daughter is 3 it is impossible.  I cannot relax in the shower when there is a 3 year old knocking on the door asking if I am almost done.  I know that those are moments that I will surely miss in the future so I feel guilty when I take long showers while she waits at the door.  Maybe I can fit these 30 minutes in the mornings if I get up earlier.

          I will try these different stress relieving techniques and I will come back to blog the results.