It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Stress

After coming back from a hurried trip up to North Carolina and Virginia, my husband and I came back home and immediately went back to our jobs. My first day back I fell into a creek at 10:30 AM, and stayed in my wet work boots chopping down tree limbs and bushes until 3:00 PM or 1500 for those of you that run on 24 hour time.

Of course I immediately caught a cold. I went back to work the next day and the next sighing at the increasing difficulty, and how out of shape I was just from two weeks off. Add not one but two work parties, both of which had either my boss or his Chief in attendance, mix in a little bit of maybe my sister in law and her beau are going to come live with us maybe not, a dash of arguing with hubby, and some post Christmas shopping money troubles and you have the perfect storm of stress.

Maybe that’s why I’m now bleeding like the river Nile after a series of plagues only 14 days after my last period? No cramping, and not a huge excess of blood but still worrying.

I’m 21. So I’ve had my period now for 10 years, and I’ve never had mid cycle spotting or bleeding of any kind. And I’ve had one child already, last year. So…what the heck is going on right now?

Is stressing about my stress and whether it caused this or not making this worse than it has to be? I set myself a doctors appointment like a proper adult, but now I’m terrified of whether or not they’re going to tell me something like I’m dying now.

Anyone else get all jittery jabbery and stressed out during the holiday season? What do you do to cope?

I’m just going to make another cup of Chai tea and try to settle in for the day and enjoy my Christmas break until I go back on the 2nd. Maybe if my vajayjay stops it’s impression of a Molded from Resident Evil 7 I can take a nice calming bath and do adult lady things like painting my nails or putting a mask of some sort on my face.

Sigh, wish me luck.

Go FISH

As of right now, I have 3 years in Mississippi, and 800 volunteer service hours to complete.

I know what that sounds like, and no, I’m not on probation or a felon or anything like that. I just so happen to be a part of a nationwide volunteer organization, and I just so happen to be married to a Coast Guardsman.

Sometimes it feels like I’m on probation. Other times, like today when I was standing ankle deep in water in the meridian of a busy highway with a gentle mist turning my hair to a mixture of frizz and kinky curls, and I heard someone happily shout ‘Crawfish!’ All the other members that were out today rushed over to watch her take a Crawfish out of the murky water and put it in a styrofoam cup for us to look at, it feels more like an inoculation for what adult life really is. I’m only 21 years old, and I’ve lived a lifetime of experiences already, but I’m still learning something new every single day.

I had no idea how much the dirtiest of dirty parts of the south had to offer someone like me. How many interesting people I meet on a daily basis, their interests, and the culture down here. How the ‘opportunity youth’ of the program would alter how I view the world in such a profound way.

And I also had no earthy idea of the real value of a good pair of all weather work boots.

I’ve always dreamed of having a cute little homestead where I could raise animals and grow crops and make my own energy, but before a week ago I’ve never gotten down and dirty in a muddy creek or used loppers to fight my way through a dense forest. Before yesterday I’ve never had to use ingenuity and man power to haul two trailers that were sitting in fire ant hills and had two busted tires all the way to the main road. These weren’t issues I’d ever considered when I saw myself braving the great outdoors. Suffice to say now I’m thankful for the opportunity to gain all of these real world skills in a hands on environment. This is my inoculation, my vaccine against all the problems that are going to arise in my ultimate dream my future business, ‘Villanueva’.

I also have to juggle being a mother to a one year old boy, a military spouse, manage a households finances and cleaning schedule, and train some dogs while I’m at it too. I want to start a business on the side to rake in some more cash, and you might be asking with what time? Yeah my point exactly.

I’m hoping to share some of these experiences, and maybe someone out there will not make the same mistakes that I do. Or maybe some of you have been through these things and can offer your own sage advice that will help me along.