Let's Settle Down

I am in the middle of what I think of as snowball stress.  My family and I have a lot going on this weekend.  Beginning tomorrow afternoon and going all the way through until Sunday evening we will be in constant motion.  So, already, my mind is racing.  As I drove to work today I was thinking about tomorrow afternoon.  As I am thinking about tomorrow afternoon I begin to plan what will be for dinner tomorrow.  Oh, gosh, then it turns into meeting up with the babysitter at the right time and then baseball snacks and the game...eeeee!  See what I mean?  It's a snowball.  I know that everyone reading this knows exactly how I feel.  We all rush from one thing to the next and are constantly focused not on the present moment but what is going on tonight, tomorrow, next week or even next month.  Okay, so, how to fix it?  Thanks to CBT I am my own therapist, right?

First, lets take a look at my schedule.  As an outsider.


Tomorrow, yes, there is a lot going on.  Work.  Picking up the boys for a doctors appointment.  Baseball practice.  Getting a babysitter.  A night on the town for JF's rock and roll show.  Phew!
Okay, so, what?  

Sure, I will be running from place to place all day long.  But once we get the boys with the sitter the brakes can go on and we are on our own.  Headed to be reunited with lots of friends and good songs.  And Saturday?  Nothing on the books at all.  For some reason my mind skips past that day and zooms directly to Sunday, Ezra's first baseball game of the season.  And that's not til 6.

So, here is the lesson to be learned:

When my schedule gets really full I tend to focus just on the busy parts and not even notice the down time.  What I instead need to do is look at both scheduled and unscheduled times evenly.  Sure, Friday is busy, but once we get to the show that will be our stopping point.  And then a whole day of free time.  The snowball was taking me right past that and directly to the baseball game, skipping not only whatever fun adventures Saturday holds, but a Sunday morning of coffee and lounging with the fam.
So, when you get that snowball stress feeling, step back and really look at your schedule.  Take a breath.  Think about where you are right then and where you really will have to be in the coming days.  
You may just be surprised at how un-busy you are :)