Stress? What kind of stress am I under? Seriously, I am deliriously happy in my relationship, what could be the issue? Well let me backtrack a few months. In Early December my employer took me off of one team and put me in training for a different team. It was the same computer systems, which was nice. But it involves totally different procedures and rules. No problem. I learn easily and quickly so training has been a breeze. Three months of training which brings us to the here and now. It is time to launch this new product and go ‘live’. As I mentioned before, I learn easily so ‘no problem’. Except that there is a problem. I still have many unanswered questions. When asked the answer is ‘we still haven’t been informed’ or ‘we haven’t figured that out yet’. What??? My ease of my job and the level of my job performance and the quality of my work (meaning the happiness of our the clientele I work with) is dependent upon these questions! As if that is not stressful enough. One week we are told the way to do a procedure, but it is very possible that within a week or two that the information will be changed to something totally different. (As evidenced by a huge change..in a 42 page document that we were given minutes before we left on Friday...when we go live first thing on Monday). I’m not blaming anyone...it is just the nature of the beast when launching a new product and the support that accompanies the said product. But...it leaves the nerves frayed a bit! Regardless, I thought I was doing great. I learn easily so quickly I became the voice that answered questions and the one that coworkers have looked to. For quite a few weeks I have been spending a portion of my days talking coworkers off the ledge in terms of stress and frustration. I have reminded them that it WILL be chaotic and stressful but give it a few weeks and we will feel like pros. My pep talks have happened frequently and more and more often as the launch grew closer. I was the strong one.....or so I thought.
I left work on Friday and could tell I felt jittery and off balance. But it wasn’t until I got home and saw the welcoming smile and felt the warmth of Jason’s embrace that it came crashing down. I had a complete meltdown and all of MY pent up stress came pouring out. It was somewhat surprising as I had no idea that this was all burning a hole inside me!
The weekend has been a lot of me worrying and/or me trying to avoid thinking about what very well may happen today (we are supposed to launch...but there is a slight chance we won’t...at this point though I almost just want to do it and get this over with!). Poor Mertz senses my unrest and spent the weekend watching me and trying to be as near me as possible....to offer comfort. And of course Jason has been a trooper in his support and love. Ready or not, here we go!!
I had this revelation about the stress and realized that the stress had most likely been burning a hole within me for a while. Early Saturday morning (awake super early unable to sleep...darn stress) I realized that quite possible the silent ravages of stress had been affecting my weight loss efforts in February.....in case you didn’t know, the results were a bit dismal I’m not using the stress as an excuse...I am the one in control. I’m just saying that stress probably drove some of my actions within the month of February. Stress most likely drove my though processes and actions. I would like to say that knowing this changed my behaviors this weekend. It wasn’t awful, but my calories were high!
The weekend was just what I needed. A time to decompress and just enjoy time. We isn’t so much of anything note worthy, just enjoyed time together. The two things I will mention:
* If you haven’t seen Bohemian Rhapsody...the movie about Queen, do it!!!! We rented it (5.99 on Amazon) and it was well worth the money!
* How connected are you with your partner when you get the exact same fortune in your cookie that he gets???! Yup...it happened on Friday night!!
So, here I am at the cusp of a new week! I’m still filled with trepidation at what lies ahead. But it’s life and therefore I have no choice but to face it head on! The stress is here. Now that it had raised its ugly head I am hyper aware of it lurking within and doing its damage in my thoughts and physical being. I know that the stress will have an affect upon my weight loss efforts not just in the physical aspect of how my body works internally, but also with how my mind and emotions react with food. I am going to have to guard against the stress eating and poor choices until these new job tasks become second nature!