I don’t think I’ve written a blog post that wasn’t a pre-prepared promo of some kind since the beginning of the year. It’s been a hectic start to 2016, and now that we’re beginning month 4, I finally found some time to sit down to blog.

What has been keeping us so busy lately?

iStock_000024086772Large There have been some health issues in our family, we’ve had a huge shift in our spiritual and religious beliefs-which has affected a lot, and I managed to seriously over schedule myself when it came to my writing and teaching schedule. Add in track and soccer, taxes, regular every day family, house, and work stuff, and a few panic attacks thrown in there, and yeah… I feel like we’ve been running since January and haven’t really had a chance to breathe until recently.

My hubby shouldn’t have to travel again until summer, we have less than a month left of sports events and practices, health issues are under control for the most part, major deadlines were met, we’ve got a plan for fixing up the backyard (yay!), and I’ve decided to go back to school to finish my bachelor’s degree-which will be tough, but will also help improve my work situation. Things are getting back on track.

2016-03-29 08.02.02 I’m still writing, which is a huge stress reliever for me. Running keeps me grounded as well-not to mention keeps my back and shoulders from killing me. Writing-wise, I’m working on finishing Wicked Revenge. Personally, I’m looking forward to spending the summer camping and working in the yard with my family as soon as the always volatile spring weather of New Mexico figures its crap out and decides to warm up.

If you have tips on keeping the crazy under control, I’d love to hear them 🙂

Stress and I don’t really get along. It makes me sick, literally. There’s always a certain amount of stress involved in being an author thanks to reviews, deadlines, decisions, writing the actual book if you ever have time, and dealing with criticism.

Add in a rather sudden decision by my husband and I to sell our house so we could buy a new one we really, really wanted to buy. Needless to say, since seeing the house for the first time on January 1st to closing three and a half months later…there’s been a lot of stress involved.

So, how do we combat it?

Our go-to family stress relief is heading to the movies. We all love watching movies at the theater, and if there’s nothing good on, we’ll have a movie night at home and pretend all the other craziness doesn’t exist for a few hours.

If it’s just me and my hubby feeling frazzled, we’ll either play video games (Last of Us has an excellent story!) or have a Netflix marathon.

When it’s just me that’s on the verge of a meltdown…I have a few hidden gems.

And I mean hidden, because my kids will eat my treats if I leave them out! Dark chocolate is my absolute favorite, but cupcakes or brownies will do in a pinch as well. Or froyo. Or peanut butter M&Ms.

Stress=headaches=exhaustion. Solution? Dr. Pepper 10.

When I get stressed out, it feels like my muscles are all slowly twisting together. Roll out the yoga mats! Deep breathing, stretching, relaxing…definitely a must during stressful times.

When I really need to unwind and clear my head, I reach for a book. Reading takes me out of the craziness and lets me focus on something else. Sometimes it’s an old favorite, and sometimes it’s a new find. Or both at once! Right now I’m listening to Brandon Sanderson “Way of Kings” on audio book and reading Jana DeLeon’s first book in her Miss Fortune series…again.

So, tell me, what do you do to unwind when things are too stressful?

Tag: stress

MIA…sorry about that!