The Silver Bullet

To say I have a stressful job is an understatement.

I once told someone that half of my job is being yelled at by students, parents, administrators, and teachers. If you can handle unhappiness in many shapes and forms, you can handle being a school secretary.

Kids get mad because I don't give them what they want.

Parents are angry because I don't let them do what they want when they want to the way they want it done.

Administrators get frustrated because I just can't do five things at the same time.

Teachers are upset because sometimes all 17 of them and their classes need something.

Like I said, if you can handle being yelled at by everybody, and essentially hated and/or told off by at least one of these four parties each day, maybe you can handle being a school secretary.

No two schools are the same.

My old school very much feels like Kansas, and my current school is practically Oz, complete with good and bad witches on any given day. There are flying monkeys thrown in there too, but that's a horse of a different color!

Moving from Kansas to Oz brought on all sorts of new obstacles, and sadly my stress level decided to climb on each obstacles like building blocks.

I was getting gray hair (before age 30, mind you). I couldn't sleep. I was annoyed all the time. Even going to kickboxing three times a week was only working me up instead of lifting me up. I knew I was where I needed to be, but I felt trapped. I was caught in a tornado, praying constantly to get to the eye of the storm so that I could get my bearings.

The eye never came.

Winter break gave me lots and lots of family time, but the dread of returning to Oz haunted me. I worried about Oz all the time. I worried about the bad witches and the flying monkeys. I worried about the wizard, the poppies, and knowing deep down that I could never go back to Kansas.

Then, one day I stumbled across an article in researching for our trip to Europe, it was all about surviving those long haul flights. One of the recommendations was to read a new book and try to get through it in one sitting. It was definitely a challenge I was up for, but I had no idea what to read.

There's a website that recommends books based on authors and other titles you know you like, so I put in my favorite author (Emily Giffin) to see what popped up. Almost immediately, I found a series called Bellevue Wives by Jane Porter and my interest was piqued.

The first book was called Odd Mom Out, and it only took a week for the library to get it in. I devoured the story, and I loved it! I really liked reading about motherhood from the standpoint of the working mom and how to fit in at school with the other stay-at-home moms.

Right as I started this book, I read a study that suggested reading for fun 10 minutes before you go to sleep helps destress you by almost 68%.

I noticed almost immediately that doing this had a positive effect on me. I didn't wake up as often during the night, and it was easier to go back to sleep after Charlie woke me up. I started to feel better, and much more like myself than in recent months.

I felt happier, less stressed.

Finally.

I've since finished that book and started the next one, titled Mrs. Perfect.

Additionally, I've been inspired to plow through the final draft of my own novel, but that's a post for another day.

My silver bullet to coping with stress is to read before bed. Although 10 minutes quickly turns into an hour if I'm not careful, but I guess that's a sign of good writing.

I'm relieved to have found a way to reduce my stress, it is very much needed.