Ten Minutes for Yourself a Day Keeps the Doctor Away: Think of Yourself for Less Stress

A few years ago, my mother lost both her parents only eight days apart, got divorced a few months later, and has struggled to make it on her own with three children. The unlucky events are hers, but the stress is mine as well. Every day we talked about things we could do to make our homelife better and stable, and just as loving as it were years ago. I myself struggled to make ends meet in a falling economy, and my worries financially consisted nothing of what it really meant to live. However, my job was my life because I needed to pay the bills. Domestic chores never ceased to end-collecting the garbage, feeding the cats, cleaning the bathroom, grocery shopping with Mom, then work 40 hours, come home and work some more. Somewhere I still need to fit in my best friends, my love for songwriting and still keep up on my Kelly Clarkson news.

In order to get all this done, I cut out a lot of the "buldge" in my daily routines-which was first and last my workouts. If friends invited me out, I usually would respond "Oh when I get caught up on things" or "I'm really busy the next couple days." Though I felt my choice was necessary, the irony is that though I gained hours, I seemed to be losing more and more. My work assignments lasted forever and some remained put off while I just sat online looking for something interesting to do. Success was never mine. Dinners would be late because I seem to forget to get all the ingredients and must fly out the door at the last minute. Sometimes just paying the bills seemed to never end as I'd lose paperwork or simply look it over not realizing it was due two days ago.