Exercise for Stress Relief

I have the nutrition part of my life under control. I know what I’m supposed to eat and I’m pretty good at getting the proper combination of foods into my body. My proportion size is correct and I’m eating just under the amount I need to maintain my weight. It’s exercise that is causing me the most problems.

I love to exercise. It makes me feel great. Sometimes I have to somehow manage to squeeze in the time between many of the errands I have to do in one day.

When I started this week I had planned to swim early this morning, delivery a package for a school auction tomorrow and get a haircut. By midweek, my husband had an appointment to get his car fixed, so I had to pick him up from the auto shop before 8:30am. Yesterday, I realized that the school pictures were today and I needed to do hair in the morning. Today, my daughter called from school to say she needed lunch money.

I dropped off school lunch money first thing in the morning. I had to go to the cafeteria to pay because everyone in the school was busy with the setup for the pictures and the coming auction. I had to write a note to my daughter and hand it to the assistant at the front desk at the school because my daughter is prone to panics. She would be calling home and nobody would be home. Of course I had to wait to hand it to someone because the office was full of people trying to get auction stuff together and trying to get the gym set up for pictures.

I continued on to town to pick up my husband. The traffic was bad and it took my ½ hour to get there from the school. When I got there he was still waiting for the shop owner to show up. Five minutes later the guy shows up. He gets in the car and we head home.

I get the auction and swimming stuff together and head out again. Did I mention that they are doing construction on the bridge near the school? I head out again back through the construction zone with the single lane of traffic and flag people. I drop off the auction package at the farm where it’s being auctioned and head toward swimming.

Swimming. I get in the pool and start my first set of laps. That first set is fast. I crush the water with my palms and kick furiously. I’m working out all that morning stress. By the time I finish that first set, I’m getting tired. I’m not pacing myself well. I get out of the water and take a drink of water. I start my second set at a slower pace. I start to look around me and follow the tiled bottom more carefully. I carefully put my hand into the water fingertips first, stretch my arm out and draw it through the water to the side of my thigh. I get into the rhythm of swimming. By the third set, I’m listening to my body. I’m making sure every stroke is perfect. I look around at the people in the other lanes and the children learning to swim. When I’m done, I’m relaxed and ready to continue on.

I will have no more time for myself today expect what I’m taking to write this. I’m off and running when this is finished….again.