5 Ways to Relax When Stressed

Happy International Poetry Day!

I am super sorry that I missed posting last week. In my defense, I wasn't much use for anything from Friday afternoon two weekends ago until about Wednesday of last week. If I wasn't at work, I was at home asleep (or lounging watching Criminal Minds) but mostly sleeping.

But this week is going to be much better. I've already written a couple thousand words. I did mean to wake up about two hours prior than I actually ended up waking up. The time change has messed up my natural clock, so I can't just turn my alarm off and assume I'll get up around 9 o'clock.

Already, I know this is going to be a good week. Last week was our big Spring Mailer Sales week at work and it was Spring Break. Just add that I wasn't feeling 100% and it was a very stressful week.

Thankfully, this week won't be near as bad.

Here is a list of things I like to do when I am overly stressed (because being stressed is not healthy and is probably the worst thing for productivity).

1.) I chase Hathor around and try to get pictures of her. It might not seem relaxing, but it is quite helpful. I mean seriously, look at that face.

2.) I take a bubble bath and read. Sometimes I even take a glass of wine with me. Okay, who am I kidding, most times I take a glass of wine with me. But the wine isn't necessarily what makes it relaxing. Bubble baths make it seem like I'm soaking all of my troubles away. Recently, I've been pretty fond of Bath and Body Works' Aromatherapy soaps, so I'm going to recommend the Stress Relief with Eucalyptus mint found here. 

3.) If it is still early enough in the day, sometimes I'll go for a walk. I can't wait for the areas nearby to make the trails that are in the works. They just have to finish the building first, but I'm patient. Most of the time. 

4.) Another thing I do is overdramatically collapse on my bed and refuse to move until after either I wake up from a nap or I feel better. 

5.) I work out in the backyard garden. It's so nice to be outside working with my hands in the dirt, pruning and watching as things grow. Just a few days ago I planted a strawberry plant and it makes me so happy.

And for a bonus:

6.) If a person is why I am stressed out, I will make the person in my Sims game and make life miserable for him or her. Overall I am not a violent person and I don't actually want anything negative to happen to the person but sometimes getting a person abducted by aliens and then pregnant with quadruplets while living in a one-room building that doesn't have a working toilet is just what I need to make me feel better.

So until next time,

I hope you have a very stress-free week,

Shelby Hild

Tips on Productivity and Time Management

Today is a delightfully rainy day. I know we are expecting more rain and more wind, but for now it is just an off and on again drizzle. It is relaxing. Hopefully it stays relaxing and doesn't venture into the stressful arena.

Anyway....

This week's post topic is one that I have found difficult, mainly because prioritizing is somewhat difficult for me.

I have tried to plan out each second of my day.

And failed to even stick with it an hour.

I have tried just winging it.

And failed, although I did distract myself by learning a great deal of random things on Wikipedia.

Then I tried post-it notes.

And lost them. All.

So my current method is giving myself a time limit to finish a specific amount of things. It isn't quite as strict as having every second of every day planned, nor as easily ignorable as not having anything planned.

It seems to be working so far.

So here are a few tips I've learned within my journey to discovering how to become more productive thanks to prioritizing and becoming more efficient at time management.

1. What works for one person may not work for another.
2. Using the snowball effect (like most people use for money and paying off loans) can work when you've got a lot of little things. Figure out which one is easiest and can take the least amount of time, then complete it. You'll get the encouragement of crossing something off your list (even if it is a mental list) and be able to move on to the next item.
3. Do you have anything that is time sensitive? Do those things first.
4. Don't be afraid to ask for help. It'll take longer to do if you are having to learn how to do it on your own and then you might run out of time.
5. Don't forget to relax some. If you don't relax, generally quality of what you're doing takes a hit.
6. Along the lines of that, don't forget to  breathe. Oxygen is good for you.
7. If you need to socialize and have a project you're working on that can be a group project, ask someone to come over and help out. I'd recommend not asking them over to, say, clean your house, but whatever floats your boat.
8. If it is something you aren't excited to do, figure out a way to make it a game.

Most of those seem very similar to each other, but it works. There are some things that would be hard to prioritize with, many that I don't currently have much experience with (like kids and a spouse and whatnot).

How do you make sure you get everything done? Are there specific ways that help you prioritize everything? If so, feel free to leave a comment!

Until next time,

Shelby

Progress Report #2

Yesterday marked the end of another month of 2016.

Today marks the beginning of a new one. 

March. 

Last year this month consistently made me feel nostalgic about marching band for no reason except for the fact that March is in marching. 

Last year this month marked my sixth month at my job. This year, it'll mark my eighteenth month. 

Since today is the first day of this merry month, it also means today is progress report day!

Progress Reports aren't terribly long or complicated, and if you're new here, it is just a post recording the physical components to becoming a better (and healthier and more productive) Shelby. 

So without further ado:

My current weight is 149.3 lbs, which in case you were curious is 10.66 Stone according to Google. It isn't as much of a lose as last month's progress report saw, but it is still progress. And that's really all I can ask for. 

My diet has somewhat been slipping, and I feel like I say that every week, but it hasn't been slipping as much the past week and a half, only slightly. I've managed to give myself two cheat days a week where basically I eat whatevs I want. This month I will limit that to one and see where I go from there.

Another aspect that has been slipping (again) is the exercise part. I've had quite a few mid-shift days this month and I find exercising either before or after so difficult. The most difficult thing I've tried to do is get up early and workout, but then if I try to do it when I get home I wake myself and then I struggle to fall asleep and then I'm tired when I go to work. Anyway, I'm going to figure out a way to work on that this month. It is at the top of my priority list. (Speaking of priority lists, next week's post will involve them.)

The apart of this process that I am very proud of is currently my word count on my WIP. 

Are you ready to hear what it is? 

I am at 63,118 words. And that is just so far today. I plan to do quite a bit of writing before heading into work and hopefully hit 64K, maybe even 65K depending on how productive I can be with Hathor trying to walk all over my computer. 

Last month I was a little under 31K, having written about 28K including the week I took off that was supposed to be specifically dedicated to writing. I have written 32,224 words this short month of February. I'm pumped. And I plan to continue making this much progress.

So this month's verdict is of measurable things, I am indeed working on improvement. So far, my New Year's Resolution is still around.

What was your New Year's Resolution? Are you still working towards it? Feel free to comment below. 

Until Next Time,

Shelby Hild

Staying Patient

Since I've been doing quite a bit of writing recently, my running has been pushed to the back-burner (not permanently, just until I feel in a better place to take breaks from writing more than just to go to work). Although I do need to at some point really buckle-down on my time management, I have stuck to my diet for the most part. 

Recently I have added an element to my tasks becoming a Better Shelby, so that I do feel like I'm still achieving something. This is the mental element of being kinder and complaining less.

 This week, I am officially adding something else to that list that I have been working towards: be more patient with people. Both to what they can see and what goes on in my mind.

So I have a list of six tips of what has helped me in the past, and what will hopefully help me continue.

1.) Take three deep breaths before saying anything while flustered or frustrated. This gives a chance for any mean or overly sarcastic statement to evaporate.

2.) Remember others are dealing with their own issues. They might (and probably do) have something going on in their lives that is making them short or not terribly considerate of others. I tend to be creepy and try to imagine everyone's lives around me, especially if I don't know anything about them. Sometimes I am actually really good at figuring it out because there are so many people who if you ask if they are finding everything they will take that as "tell me everything about you," and then they go on to tell me a lot. Although that is something I do enjoy, when I am trying to get work done but don't want to be rude, it can be a bit of a problem. 

3.) Get plenty of sleep. When a person gets the proper amount of sleep, not too much, not too little, then it is easier to cope with the repetitive struggles of everyday life. I've not been as successful doing this recently, but I still try!

4.) Don't let yourself get too hungry. There is a term for people who are so hungry they are angry. That word is hangry. Snickers has it right when they say "you're not yourself when you're hungry." And it is true. It is much more difficult to deal with a person on an empty stomach. 

5.) Be willing to learn. Most people are stubborn and don't like change or anything different from them. If you enjoy learning new things, when things aren't going how you want them it is so much easier to view it as a new opportunity to learn something. It makes difficult situations easier to deal with. 

6.) Don't let the small stuff get you down. Little things have a tendency to seem much bigger than they are. If you take a moment and see how this will alter the big picture, then it can help put things in perspective. If it is something big, then deal with it. If it isn't, then still deal with it, but don't let it bring your whole day crashing down into a giant pile of burning, stinking rubble. If you can, don't even let it be a blip on your good/bad day radar. 

They aren't life shattering tips, but they have been helping me out these days. Hopefully they'll help you out too.

What are things that help you stay calm? Comment below!

Until next time,

Shelby Hild

Mental Elements

Today's blog post was initially going to be about PCOS, what it is and how it affects people. But the more I thought about it, the less I felt this week should be about that.

Then I thought about making a blog post dedicated to my cat because she has been a delightful little angel this week and I adore her. But then I realized how silly of an idea that would be.

Instead, today's post is about a new challenge I am adding to my list of things, now that I am no longer doing my super Cheat Week for eating healthier and exercising. (By the way I can officially do 10 push-ups which is 10 more than I used to be able to do, so I'm pretty excited about that.)

I mentioned last week how sometimes I have a difficult time sticking to things (especially diets and such) and it is very true. You could say my attention span is limited.

When it comes to writing, I will work really hard on something for the first half of it and then lose every milligram of steam I had towards it. So I'd start something new. In notebooks and word documents, I have at least one hundred stories started and then forgotten.

Having a strong will power is incredibly helpful in all of the things I am trying to do, but mine isn't very strong after a few weeks.

Thankfully, my writing hasn't declined too much. It did for a bit, but I've managed to catch back up with where I wanted to be at. That is part of the reason I am a day late on posting this, because I was working on my current WIP novel.

One thing that I have recently noticed about me is my thoughts have turned rather negative. Not necessarily about writing or anything, but overall. That mindset is making me grumpier than normal. Being grumpier than normal makes life not necessarily... nice. Which makes me complain more and more and then it is just a never ending cycle of weary complaints and anger.

I don't want to be an angry person. Ever.

In the past, I have known a few people who I would describe as that, and they just bring the people around them down. I don't want to do that.

I want to be one of those people that everyone is happy to see. I want to be an uplifting figure on people's lives. The one thing I've wanted to do for so long, one could say it is actually my life goal (although being the first real author on Dancing With the Stars would definitely help me achieve this to a point) is I want to inspire people to be happy and be better people.

That's why writing is so important to me, that's why books are so important to me. Growing up, books are what helped me through a lot of tough times (for me, they were tough although looking back when compared to other peoples' childhoods it was nothing).

Books were what saved me, they helped me escape. They taught me to think, to truly think about things. They taught me to dream about what is and what could be. They are probably the reason I have a history of incredibly bizarre dreams (like the ones I have at night, not goals for the future).

I hope that at least one of the books I write can have this same effect on just one person. If that can happen, I don't care what else I manage to do in life. It will have been a successful life.

BUT to be able to have that sort of influence on people, I feel like I need to truly be a happy person. Through and through, not just on the surface.

So starting today, starting right now, I will do less complaining. I am going to limit myself to one complaint a day both aloud and in my head. Then when I can do that with ease, I will limit myself to one a week, then one a month, and then hopefully I will be out of the complaining habit.

Because to be completely honest, I've not got much to complain about. Especially after realizing the truth of the quote:

"The things you take for granted, someone else is praying for."

So,
Until Next Time,
Shelby Hild

P.S. It is not my quote, but I can't remember where I first heard it from.

Staying Motivated

This last week was a bad week.
In every aspect of what I've been trying to accomplish.
-I failed at eating healthy. Like absolutely failed.
     One day at work, my lunch wasn't quite filling and so I went to get something to munch on from the cheap dollar store nearby. They didn't have any healthy choices so I got some unhealthy ones. My week continued down that path and I had bootloads of pizza and chips and cookies.

-I only exercised once. It was a run/walk.

-Mentally, I just wasn't in it at all. I was grumpy and unhappy in my mind.

-I only wrote like 2000 words total.

Normally, when I have a week like this when trying to get fit or eat better (granted normally it happens on week three rather than five or six) I feel so bad and guilty that I GIVE UP.

I refuse to give up though. It's a setback, that's all.

All day I have been telling myself:
-I am strong.
and
-I can do this.

I might not actually be terribly strong, but I will be. I know I can do this.

I've packed my lunch for today (a yummy looking salad). I went for a run this morning (finally moving on to week 3 of the couch to 5K program). Later, I'll go to work, but before that, I'll do some writing.

This time I will not give up.

This time I am determined.

Progress Report #1

Although it has only been a week since my last update, it feels like it has been forever. It's probably because the past couple of days have been so busy and 11 of this last weekends 48 hours were spent in my car.

Any way, today's post isn't terribly long or complicated. Basically, it's some statistics that "help" determine if I'm making any progress.

Since part of my journey is to become physically healthy, I have been working on my diet and I've been exercising.

My current weight is: 153.4 lbs. That means I have lost nearly 10 pounds this month.

For running, I've been doing the Couch to 5k thing to help me learn to enjoy running (which has so far failed, I still hate running). The app that I've been using is Zen Labs Fitness c25K - 5K Running Trainer, which is pretty nice. It works with my phone's music. It dings whenever I switch from running to walking and vice versa. When I get a certain percentage done with the program, it unlocks free stuff which is always fun. I've been stuck on the last day of the second week for about three weeks now, because I have been having issues pushing through the last running segment, but I think I'm finally going to be able to move on.

This month I will be adding to my work out regimen which until today has solely consisted of running. At some point I will post pictures of progress, but that's not yet.

Where writing is concerned with my current WIP, I have got 31,000 words written technically 30,894. Which is about 28,000 more than when I started this blog, so that is nice.

See you next week,
Shelby