Saving the stress for later

This past weekend I had the opportunity to go on a 4 day girls getaway to Dallas, Texas. This was exactly what I thought I needed after the loooong week that I had. Being in 15 credit hours, working a Monday-Thursday job, working another job for some extra cash Friday/Saturday, trying to keep up with my lifting schedule, and trying to maintain my faith AND social life is not easy. Not to mention I will be graduating in May and am constantly looking/applying for jobs and apartments for my move to Kansas City. AND on top of that, I was sick the whole trip... But that's enough complaining :)

Anyway, I thought this trip would be the perfect way to escape the stress waiting for me back home. We got to Dallas late Friday night, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and passed out. The next day we spent our time at the zoo and then headed to the Fort Worth Stockyards. Saturday was fun. Animals (my favorite thing on earth), sun, perfect weather, and good food. Sunday was spent at Six Flags and laying by the pool, more good weather, and more good food.

So then Monday happened. My mom and my sister head to Sundance Square for drinks and shopping. I decided to stay at the hotel by myself and lay by the pool, read my book, and relax. As I was laying by the pool listening to the birds chirping, I completely zoned out, as I do about 75% of the time.

As I was lost in my thoughts, I started going over how the trip had unfolded over the past few days. I realized how much I had missed. Physically, I hadn't missed anything. But I missed a lot mentally. I missed a lot mentally because I was too busy worrying, overthinking, and checking my phone. Now i'm not going to go in depth on these 3 things because they each have their own blog coming up. But these 3 things were what was causing me to not be present at the time.

I recently started reading a book titled 13 Things Mentally Strong Women Don't Do. One of the things that is talked about in this book was setting a certain time aside to worry and overthink. At first this sounded so unhealthy to me. Having a specific time just for worry? What? But i've been trying it and it works.

Setting aside a time for me to focus on these things that were stressing me out allowed me to be more present in the moment. There is a time and place for everything, even worrying and overthinking, but that time is not when you be experiencing some of the best moments of your life.

Now it's a lot easier said than done to say "save your worrying for later." Because as much as we like to think we're always in complete control. We are not. Being in complete control over your thoughts takes a lot of practice. This means when you're out with your friends or in a work meeting and these thoughts of what happened last night of what's going to happen tomorrow night, you are actively aware of the thoughts in your head, acknowledge them, and then you push them out. It's not easy, it's actually really freakin' hard, but it's worth it.

When you're fully present in the moment, you will experience every emotion heightened. You will have the most laughs, the most smiles, the most heartache, but you will be truly living. I promise you it is better to feel all the feels, experience all the experiences, and live all the moments, then spend your life in your head... There is way too much life to live.

Sincerely,

KU