I just took 2 quizzes that really opened my eyes to the life I live and the state of my well being. The first quiz was one about how vulnerable to stress am I. I don’t even recall the score but I am pretty sure that I scored about as low as you can on this, meaning I am “at risk” as it put it or critical, something like that. In other words, I took this to mean that stress could and probably should be crumbling me. Then I take the quiz on how resilient am I and score on the other end of the spectrum. I am apparently very resilient. This got me thinking, “Wow there’s a word for what I am?”.
I have throughout my life wondered how I deal with some of the stresses that I have so well. I don’t consider myself to have a sound support system around me. In fact, I often feel that I am the support system for others and I can’t show the emotion as they need me to be strong. This has been my mode of operation for some time. Now that isn’t too say I haven’t broke down and had my issues but I always seem to bounce back. I just keep hearing the P.Diddy song “Can’t nobody hold me down” playing every time I think about any of things I have worked through.
So how do I continue to improve this already high resilience? How do I strive for perfection? Here’s a couple things I plan on doing going forward and why I think they will help.
1. Running – I need my time where I can just run from everything, talk to god and sweat out all the worries I have.
2. Baseball – I need my time to escape and forget what I am dealing with and just be.
3. Meditation – I have so much to be thankful for and so much going for me, every time I just sit on my front porch, or walk through the local park it is a sense of inner peace that give me strength.
4. Programming – I need my own projects. I have ideas, solutions and sometimes just want to work out a complex algorithm for fun. I need to give this a higher priority.
5. Reflection – I need to find ways to reflect on struggles, stressors and anything that causes me pain and express the feelings and emotions.
Lastly, as with everything in my life I plan to do continued research on the topic and see what I can learn to continue to improve.
” I often feel that I am the support system for others and I can’t show the emotion as they need me to be strong. ” – I know this feeling all too well, unfortunately.
I like that you have a song that gets you through things – music is one of those things for me too. For me, I have a few Queen songs that seem to consistently appear:
* “Under Pressure” – appropriate for stress
* “The Show Must Go On” – for motivation to not let stress slow me down
* “We Are The Champions” – once I’ve made it through it all
Yeah, the song was one that came when I was going through a rough patch in my school days and with lyrics like:
“Don’t push us, cause we’re close to the, edge
We’re tryin’, not to, lose our heads, a-hah-hah-hah-hah
I get the feeling sometimes, that make me wonder
Why you want to take us under (Why you want to take us under)
I get the feeling sometimes, that make me wonder
Why you want to take us under (Why you want to take us under)
Can’t nobody take my pride, can’t nobody hold me down oh no
I got to keep on movin'”
it has stuck with me to this day. No one has been able to or will be able to take my pride or hold me down. I just keep moving.
I think you really hit the nail on the head with carving out time (and guarding it!) for the things that you enjoy. I too often get caught up in the day to day, taking care of my kids, other obligations, and just leave the things I enjoy until last – which means that I never get to them…