Pressure Cooker

Yesterday at 5pm I looked at the week ahead on my calendar because I started the habit of planning my workday two days out. Usually it changes at least a little but I find that it helps me stay productive if I can see at a glance the chunks of work I have to do. Well, when I clicked over to next week I nearly had a heart attack. OH S-H-I-T! MY FIRST TEST IS ON MONDAY!!!

I am not one to put things off, but the last month of work and Christmas trees has completely taken my focus off of school (Remember? I am studying to be a Certified Holistic Health Coach). My memory told me that the first test was in January, not December.

I had been planning on doing school work this weekend already, however this changed everything. I checked how many weeks behind I was (4) and I scrambled to find my class schedule to see how long the test was posted for. Whew- as it turns out the test is posted for 2 1/2 weeks...oh my god! lifesaver. I was about to go into hyper-psycho-cram-for-this-test-mode.

This is a great example of how far I have come in the past year. A year ago, my anxiety-ridden-self would have panicked to the point of helplessness. I would have mentally defeated myself before I even tried to start studying. Now, I did not work myself into a downward spiral. After I spent 2 minutes freaking out, I took a deep breath and started chugging along. I made a mental list of everything that I absolutely had to do over the next two weeks, blocked out time for it, and filled in the rest of my calendar with "STUDY TIME". I now feel better about this situation.

No Christmas tree or decorations, no Christmas cards, no bullshiting. I just need to buckle down and study.

Sometimes pressure is the best motivation. Good thing I just made a ton of food that is in my refrigerator/freezer. Wish me luck! (I can't wait for January!)


What keeps you stress free, especially during the holidays?