Goal - to reduce stress

Living in these modern times can make anyone feel stressed out.  We are plugged in 24/7.  We have constant access to the whatever number of friends we have through social media like facebook, twitter, etc. Which always leads me to worry why didn't they respond?  Our children are involved in extra curricular activities and we are the taxis that must get them to those destinations.  We grab meals through the drive through all the while watching the clock.  Hurry, hurry, hurry!  Then at home the t.v. blares, the computers, iPads, and X box are sucking electricity until bleary eyed we stumble into bed.  ENOUGH!

Again, I say ENOUGH.

But just how will I manage to reduce stress in my life?  Over the next 21 days I have some ideas I wish to try.  I want to know which things work for me and which don't.  "To thine own self be true" a famous quote from Shakespeare's Hamlet.  If only I knew myself  then I could be true to myself.  So here goes

1.  Walk early every morning.
2.  Drink a cup of tea in the afternoon.
3.  Eat one sit down meal slowly every day.
4.  Read a real book with the smell of paper pages.
5.  Set a limit to aimless computer time.
6.  Turn off all media an hour before bed.
7.  Set a nightly routine.
8.  Meditate or do yoga daily.
9.  Be at home at least three nights and one weekend day.
10. Crochet, paint, or quilt each day.
11. Wash the dishes.  (Seeing dishes in the sink really stresses me out!)

Happy New Year

Well, another year came and went.  We let it go very quietly.  We sat at home and watched a movie with the kids and ate a slice of cheese cake as has become our family tradition.  There were no horns to toot or confetti to shoot.  I can honestly say I wouldn't have it any other way.  Being in the comfort of our own home surrounded by the people we love the most is truly the way to end and begin a new year.

I stopped blogging part way through the year last year, and yet here I am again.  I enjoy blogging, but sometimes I feel as if I get carried away and lose sight of why I blog in the first place.  I enjoy writing.  Last year I was thrilled to see all of the views on the different blogs I posted, but then I realized that most of them were some kind of computer phishing.  So, I just stopped.

So if anyone is reading, I hope you have a comfortable year. That is my wish for my family as well.  A year where we enjoy the little things.  A year where we explore art and hobbies.  A year where we take time for each other.