Stress out, little freak out, deep breath and back to the start again.

Friday afternoon, and the weekend was here, and I really, really, REALLY wanted an alcoholic beverage to soothe my stresses away. It has been a tough couple of weeks and hey, there is no reason I can't indulge occasionally.

Except that I don't want to.

I want to live a life where I don't need - or want - to self medicate. I enjoy my (mostly) alcohol free existence, and it goes a long way to keeping my life uncomplicated and simple.

If I could deal with stress in a positive way, I wouldn't even need to have this blog post and I could go straight to the funny stuff - but as people keep telling me, life isn't all beer and skittles.

Preventative maintenance takes the hassle out of most areas of life, but when I life gets complicated those basics tend to go straight out the window. Some tips for me to remember when I'm stressed are;

• Eat well. Load up on fresh veges, fruit and protein
• Exercise. Which I don't like, unless I'm walking through nature with a good conversation partner.
  
• Write it out. Make lists, engage in some streaming consciousness, whatever.
• Meditation, yoga. All of these things are on my to do list. Mental discipline would do me the world of good.
• Social connections and laughter. Go out, hang out, laugh out loud.
• Sleep. Do whatever you can to ensure good quality, healthful snoozing.
• Nature. Spend time listening to birds, playing or snuggling with your pet, looking at the sky.
• Breathe. If nothing else, just take a couple of deep breaths.
  

Thems the basics. The details are whatever you need them to be. Maintaining order where you can will help, ensure organisation by early preparedness and simplify, simplify, simplify. And be silly - that's important.