You Are Here:

I hope that this, the third installment of You Are Here finds you in good health and good spirits after a nice long weekend. Actually for the most part I just hope that it finds you, or more correctly finds your inbox. It's Tuesday morning. Back at work. Back at Varsity. Man I wish this weekend was (even) longer. Who's with me? Thought so. This week's edition of the newsletter-you-look-forward-to-so-much-you-can't-even-sleep is about stress.

Why stress, I hear you ask? Well, cos it's my letter and I say so dammit! Sorry about that. Deep breaths. Woo-saaa. *pops happy pill* What I meant to say, is that we all have stress. It's a part of every day life and to be honest, we don't really know a whole helluva lot about it. I spent a bit of time thinking about stress over this past weekend. Not because I was particularly stressed, but rather the converse (read: opposite; not two tone flat shoes). Like most of you, I'm quite a busy bee - work, study, friends, girlfriend, boyfriend (enough with the jokes Fun Guy), whatever. The point is that we're so used to scurrying around chasing deadlines and timelines that when it finally comes to some time off, we spend most of it counting down the time till we go back. Sorta like holding our breath waiting for something to happen. If you know exactly what I'm talking about, grab a name tag and introduce yourself to the group. The first thing that I did on my day of was to get a cold. Apparently my body's been meaning to get one for a while now, but just never had the time. A sneeze here, a cough there, but never the full Monty. Now finally it had the time it needed to concentrate and get me feeling completely crap. Bastard. Anyway - the upshot is that I now to get to flop in bed drinking soup and writing dribble like this for your amusement. And not stress about anything. And I have to admit - the feeling is great. Being away from the pressure of projects and deadlines and family members moaning and friends pitching up late for the movies or the club or the braai. Any or all of the above can stress me out. That's why it was just nice to have some time to do some nothing...and a whole lot of it. If you haven't done it in a while, then I highly recommending getting a cold and feeling utterly crap. Take the time to relax and you'll feel great the next week. Sorta.
Last week I went on a stress management course at work. Not (entirely) cos I'm about to pop cos of my stress levels, but mostly so I could understand stress. The iCAS, whoever the hell they are, have defined stress as "Wear and tear our bodies experience as we adjust to continually changing environment." FYI - They left out the 's' at the end not me, but hey - a quote is a quote. So I see what they mean when they say that too little stress is a bad thing. That means that there's too little change, i.e. you're bored. And if change is as good as a holiday then you've got a vacation every time your deadline moves or you're assignment's due. It might be a really crappy holiday resort with lousy weather and grouchy travel companions, but hey - at least the coffee's good.
So this week, chill out, kick back and take a vacation at your desk. If that doesn't work, phone a friend cos I guarantee you someone, somewhere is having a worse day that you are. It's just a matter of finding them.


Till next week,