Manic: This week with a scorpion sighting in my son’s room, watching a man fall down the mountain on my hike and then seeing another man rob a store that I was shopping in! Why was this week so weird?!
Managed: Remembering to breathe and be thankful! Read on and be inspired to remember these stress-reducing techniques the next time you encounter a weird week that leaves you feeling like you’ve entered the Twilight Zone!
It all started early in the week when I heard my son gasp. I was downstairs writing an article for this blog. I was surprised that I even heard his gasp since he was upstairs in his bedroom behind a closed door. But I remember that after I became a Mama, my sense of smell and hearing became a lot sharper.
So, first the gasp, then the sound of the door opening and then the teen voice yelling, “Mom….scorpion!”…..and I ran up those stairs so fast, that I don’t even remember the act of charging up that flight of stairs! Sure enough, right there on the rug was a big ol’ scorpion! Yikes!
My first thought was to stay calm and to kill it fast. So, I grabbed my son’s shoe and started smashing, but it got away!
Time to wake Daddy, who was successful in killing it with one of the many hockey sticks my son owns. Love that fearless and take-charge hubby of mine!
So, since that encounter we’ve been wearing flip flops all around, carefully checking our clothes before dressing and doing a bunch of research on scorpion control. We’ve actually been lucky to have not seen a scary scorpion since we have lived in our desert home for the last seven years! Our neighbors see them quite a bit, actually. I choose to believe that our two fearless felines (who are strictly indoor kitties) have been successful at keeping those creepy critters at bay.
My scorpion warriors...I like to think this anyway!
Stress Lesson Learned Here: Do what I can to protect family and be aware of the potential scorpion sting that lurks in our home, but to also remember not to over-worry about things that I can’t completely control. Still creepy, though!
So, just when I think my week was going to be normal, I see a man tumble and actually fall off the mountain that we were hiking! You can read more about that, if you missed that post, here:
https://managedmoms.com/2011/04/remember-who-the-boss-is-when-hiking-the-mountain/
Thank goodness, he was OK!
And just when I thought the wild week was winding down, I woke yesterday to a dead refrigerator filled with a ton of lost food (and that means a lot of lost cash, too)! So, after we decided that it would be more cost-efficient to replace the thing, I decided to spend the time in the time vs. money equation and invest the time in truly shopping around.
My daughter and I set out to find the best deal on the fridge that I really wanted, a french-door model with the freezer drawer on the bottom.
So, off we went driving to different stores, comparing prices, calling warehouse stores for deals and searching the newspaper for coupons. In the end, we spent over three hours trying to get the best deal and we only saved about $100. Although Lowe’s could have saved me around $300, but the fridge wouldn’t be delivered for 14 days. So, the time vs. money issue kept us from that bargain. Darn!
So, we ended up going back to the very first store we had visited to close the deal. Tired, hungry and ready to pay and leave, I had finally made a decision and we started doing all the paperwork. Just then, the two sales associates that stood on the other side of the counter in front of me heard a noise and looked at each other. In that instant, they started discussing a man that had come in right behind me and my girl in a red ball cap. I sort of remembered him, but I had one eye on that french-door fridge and the other eye on my kid, so my image of him was fuzzy at best.
Then the guys exclaimed that they had just been robbed and literally, ran away from me and our transaction, to the back of the store, cussing all the way!
As they ran around the store frantic, I at first felt a bit dazed and confused. Then I yelled at my child to get and stay, right by my side. She had been just a few feet away from me looking at the big screen televisions. Then we stood and waited for a long time for the salesmen to decide what they should do next, since the robber had helped himself to a TV and exited out the back door.
I was feeling a range of emotions from exhaustion to even feeling annoyed that we couldn’t finally close the fridge deal and be on our way! But then I remembered how thankful I should be feeling.
Thankful that the bad guy didn’t have a gun! He had actually rushed right past my daughter in his quest for a new TV. Thank God, Thank God, Thank God that is all he wanted!
Thankful that the man who fell down the mountain rolled to a safe edge that prevented him from falling all the way to the unforgiving bottom of the cliff.
Thankful that my son spied the scorpion instead of stepping on it first.
So, my manic week forces me to manage my stress, my reactions to these crazy situations and my ability to continue to care for myself with good food, rest and exercise. Caring for myself helps me to remember to breathe, stay calm and most of all be extremely thankful for the managed parts of the manic events that happen to us in life!
And visualize something happy and calming when you find life’s manic moments taking over. For me, it is this vision of a visit with my mom in her beautiful Maryland back yard. It was the annual cherry blossoms weekend and you can see the blossoms all over her porch where she sits with the loves of my life enjoying each other. I keep this picture on my fridge and in my mind for the stressful times.
This memory takes me to my happy place 🙂
Wishing all of you a calm and managed Easter weekend! 🙂
