other times after vacations—such as the one i just took—i am able to retain the inner 'wheeeeee!' feeling and let it permeate. real life doesn't get me down so much, i don't descend into the vortex of anxiety i had to climb out of just to go on vacation, etc etc.
did i mention it took me a good three days to shake leftover work tension and job stress once i actually started my most recent vacation? i found it alarming—i've just never been that kind of person, at least not where work is concerned—and made a mental note to do things differently when i got back.
so far, so good.
i am even more committed to my decision after reading an article in the latest issue of Glamour. i was flipping through it while i ate my Cheerios this morning and found a story about autoimmune diseases. they include MS, type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis. they're on the rise in younger women—and stress is a major factor. not very surprising.
what is surprising is that i think, until something bad happens, until the real negative effects show up, many people enjoy being stressed. it makes them feel important and worthy to be so ridiculously busy that they have no time to do things like, say, take a deep breath once in a while or look at the sky on the way to work or just sit for five minutes doing nothing—no e-mail, no cell phone, no television, no iPod. (god forbid their world is silent for a few seconds, they might actually think about something they've been avoiding, ignoring, afraid to confront.)
it just seems to me that the body must crave stuff like that—moments when it's required to do absolutely nothing except keep ticking. and when it's pushed to the absolute max—fed crappy food, slogged with caffeine, deprived of sleep, forced to stare at a computer screen for hours on end, blasted with music right in the old ear drums—of course it's going to go haywire.
i'm just speaking from experience here. i've done all those things and i've felt all the effects. i know how i felt at work last month, and i know how i felt down in Disney World two weeks ago. surely there's a happy medium between the two, and i'm determined to find it. that's all i'm saying.
one more thing: yesterday i was walking back from the grocery store and i saw a guy pushing a stroller. i was walking behind him and the stroller kept veering to the left of the sidewalk, almost to the curb. i thought maybe something was wrong with the wheel, but then i caught up with him. he was pushing a newborn—no older than two weeks, really teeny-tiny—all the while trying to drink a Starbucks, dial a cell phone, and hold onto his iPod. he was failing miserably.
"dude," i wanted to say, but didn't. "you realize that baby is real, right? you can't be doing eight other things if you're taking your kid for a walk. just walk the kid. enjoy it. make your call later."
but people love to multi-task. people need to be stressed out. it's the only way to survive, right? i say: not so much. i may have been that way once, but i'm way over it now. there's nothing wrong with one thing at a time.
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