Don't let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy
Lighten up while you still can
Don't even try to understand
Just find a place to take your stand
And take it easy
-The Eagles, Take it Easy
In the Financial Aid office, the weeks leading up to the start of the semester are - hmmmmm, how shall I put this nicely? - Awful. Horrific. Insanely busy. It's crazy the number of people who don't realize they need some assistance paying for college until the day the bill is due. It would be amusing if there weren't so many of them, and if so many of them weren't really, really unhappy. Dealing with unhappy people makes me unhappy. The really peeved people come out of the woodwork and all of the stuff that needed to happen before school starts suddenly has to happen RIGHT THIS VERY MINUTE. I've been bringing work home every night and working during naptime on weekends, and I'm still nowhere close to being caught up.
Today, my lack of superhuman working prowess finally caught up with me, and I was a straight up ball of nerves, stressed out and frustrated and overloaded. My neverending yet failing quest to be both Super Employee and Super Mom caught up with me, and I managed to convince myself that I was really having a heart attack. I halfway jokingly asked my coworker to take me to the emergency room. By the time 5:00 rolled around, I wanted nothing more than to come home to a glass of wine on the screened porch.
So I did. But then Jay came up with a better idea that's even more relaxing than wine. He pulled out the Yoga Pretzels cards that we borrowed from school.
My friend Lisa and I took an intro yoga class a couple of years back, and I loved it. It really did help me relax and ease some of my anxieties. And I hope that I can teach my kids some of those strategies: to breathe relaxation into your daily life, to move your body in ways that strengthen and heal, to spend time in quiet meditation, to recognize that your mind and your body are connected in ways modern medicine doesn't fully understand. But most of all, Jay thinks it's loads of fun.
(Don't you just love the robot PJ pants as manly yoga pants?!)
He does a pretty mean Down Dog if I do say so myself. His favorite is Elephant Breath, but we did just about all of the cards. And you know what? I feel more relaxed. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day - or maybe I'll just be able to deal with it a little better. My colleagues will just have to roll their eyes if they find me doing the Warrior behind my desk.
4 comments:
Hot yoga on the Foster porch! I love it!!! I have to say that I am very jealous of any chick who has the self-confidence to post video of herself doing yoga on YouTube. When I do these things with my Wii trainer, I provide endless entertainment for my boys -- and Riley always stands right beside me and really shows me up with his flexibility and balance!
Oh, I SO needed to read this!! I was ready to scream this evening and thinking back to the first "chakra" ( I think) I went outside for a walk. Then I came back and did some of the yoga poses on the Wii fit. I think I would prefer Jay coming over w/ his yoga pretzel cards, though. :)
Hang in there! It's soooo nice to know that there are friendly, helpful people like you working in Financial Aid . . . even if all the cranky students (and their parents) make it incredibly difficult to remain friendly and helpful. As for the yoga - very impressed by the moves you and Jay have. (Photographer didn't do a bad job either.)
As an adult who visited the office when in need, I was so very grateful to the courteous and caring staff you all have there. I know we can be worrisome but you offer so much to so many. I hope you know you are appreciated...
Hugs~
Post a Comment