Knitting and Stress

I find myself sitting at my desk with my jaw clenched tight, shoulder and neck muscles locked, and my patience gone a lot these days.  Some of it is caused by general life stress but most is caused by work frustrations, primarily difficult coworkers, changing criteria and dealing with family law in general.  These are the days that I turn to my knitting to help me deal with stress.  As I often joke, I knit to stay sane and so I don’t kill someone because let’s face it, prison orange is not my color.

I have never been very successful in sitting still and breathing yoga-style.  Mainly, because I can never get my brain to shut up long enough for that.  However, knitting is my meditation.  There is something peaceful and relaxing in the repetitive action of knitting and purling that soothes my frustrations. 

I will admit, though, that on days when I am really stressed out, the best thing for me to work on is something mindless (garter stitch, for example) that does not require a lot of pattern reading.  There is nothing worse than knitting to relieve stress on a complicated project and finding yourself making mistakes and dropping stitches.  Talk about frustrating.

If you find yourself stress to the point of no return, pick up a craft like knitting or something similar that will help you learn to relax and let go of your day. 

Here are some interesting articles on knitting and stress relief:

http://sd-dickens.hubpages.com/hub/How-Knitting-Can-Relieve-Stress

http://www.knitonthenet.com/issue4/features/therapeuticknitting/

http://www.knitvana.com/knitting_stress_relief

http://www.webmd.com/balance/guide/blissing-out-10-relaxation-techniques-reduce-stress-spot

Currently Reading

The book I am reading right now is The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau.

Book Description:

If you've ever thought, "There must be more to life than this," The Art of Non-Conformity is for you.

Based on Chris Guillebeau's popular online manifesto "A Brief Guide to World Domination," The Art of Non-Conformity defies common assumptions about life and work while arming you with the tools to live differently. You'll discover how to live on your own terms by exploring creative self-employment, radical goal-setting, contrarian travel, and embracing life as a constant adventure.

Inspired and guided by Chris's own story and those of others who have pursued unconventional lives, you can devise your own plan for world domination-and make the world a better place at the same time.

I am reading it on my Kindle and it says I am 18% into the book and I already have 34 highlights.  I am thinking that this book is so great I am going to buy it in print and an extra copy for my 17 year old daughter.  His insights are great and his motivations to be different are right on point.

I will post a more in-depth review once I am done reading it.

Planners and Purses, Oh My!

I know that technically this post is not about parenting but I think it may fall loosely into that category.  Or at least, I am sticking to that story.

I am going to be starting a new job in about a week.  Although the hours are slightly different (9-5 instead of 8:30 -5), I still feel like I may be stressed to be a great employee and a great mother.  In an effort to simplify my life, I am going to get a great planner and a budget planner and make a household binder.

The planner will likely be a mish-mash of refill parts to create something like the one listed on A Bowlful of Lemons.  She is super organized and I wish my planner could look like hers.  I want colored stickies for me, Princess Ivi, and the pets.  That way, I can keep my head on straight and make the most of my time.  

The budget planner (also from A Bowlful of Lemons) will be a big help because this is a dramatic increase in pay which will allow me to pay off a lot of debt and save for retirement.  I love the budget planner that she uses for her budgeting and I think that this will really help a lot.  

The household binder will be a big help because they will corral all the important documents into one place.  I live with my mom and she is listed as a decision-maker on the utilities and by filing the contact numbers and account numbers for the utilities in a binder and something happens during the day, she can easily call and get it fixed.

I am also going to get a new purse and organize it like this (from A Bowlful of Lemons).  I really like this one from Martha Stewart



But I am not sure how well things will stand up in there.  So I was looking at this one too:



But I will have to go look at it to make sure it doesn't resemble a suitcase.

If neither of these will work for me, I will keep looking because as most women know, the hunt for great purse is almost never-ending.

I think with these organization and budgeting ideas, I will be really organized for the start of my new job.

Playing the Blame Game

I recently read a great article about single motherhood entitled SINGLE MOTHERS AREN’T THE PROBLEM TODAY, ABSENT FATHERS ARE (by Cara Lemieux). 

I am very much like the author in that I get infuriated by those news reports stating that single mothers cause their children to do poor in school and that our children are destined for failure.  I also get infuriated because everyone points the figure at single mothers but forget to mention the deadbeat dads who walk away.

One of the highlights of the article is quoted below:

I can’t help but think that the way we frame single motherhood, while neglecting to mention the absent fathers, is one of the most extreme forms of gender discrimination that exists today.  And because of it, not only is mom typically left to pick up the pieces of the broken home and figure out how to put a life together for herself and her child(ren), the pressure of that is compounded by the extremely negative connotation associated with being a single mother.  And, in my opinion, that negativity can be as harmful as poverty and lack of resources.

And because the dialogue about single motherhood is framed in this way - single moms get hit with a triple whammy.  Society hands them all of the blame for the situation their families are in, while they shoulder the responsibility of raising these children alone, and at the same time they are cited as a main reasons our society is going to hell in a hand-basket.  But very few seem to be focused on the male’s role in all of this.  And that needs to change.

Perhaps, if we shifted our focus and held men more accountable for their roles in creating these single mother households, then we would begin to be able to figure out how to prompt a positive change in society.  Until then, we are just adding one more thing for the single mother to worry about – seeing herself unfairly demonized in another headline.

Now, I am not saying that women should be dismissed of the responsibility - what I am saying is - if we really want to change the statistics, we need to start talking to the party that is abandoning their responsibilities – not to the party that is doing everything in their power to live up to theirs.

This article clearly articulates my thoughts on single parenting and the blame game that is often played with single moms.  Most of us are trying and doing the best that we can while dad is doing nothing.  If, for some reason, our child doesn't measure up to your standards, talk to him not to me. 

(in) RL 2013

I registered for (in)RL.  I am super excited about this because April 27 is my birthday so this will be like a birthday present for myself.

I am really looking forward to this because I find that I don't have a lot of girlfriends so I am hoping that this will help me find some.

If you want to register too, go check it out at (in)courage .