moving, stress, and taking care of myself

How do you deal with stress? Some people thrive on it, accomplishing more and getting energized by it. Not me.

I am one of those people who cannot handle an overabundance of tasks to do at once – I freak out and simply withdraw from life for a while when that happens. I can accomplish only a limited number of things per day, so when my lists gets too long, I freeze up and get nothing done instead.

We moved to a new apartment on Saturday (Hooray! We finally found sub-leasers to take over our most hated apartment), so this week has been filled with cleaning, unpacking, calling utility companies, and extreme back pain. And then throw in a bunch of church stuff (Relief Society calling). In short, I’ve been stressed.

But this time I’m trying not to freak out. I’m just doing what I can do. And I’ve been struggling with some personal issues, so I’m trying to treat myself with care and realize that I’m ok the way that I am. For now, this is all that I am and all I have to give to the world, and that’s ok.

My heart also hurts for friends and family who are dealing with struggles of their own. Life can truly be hard, and I wish I lived closer to them to be more of a support and help. I can only send my love and prayers and trust that they are strong, amazing people and can make it through the tough times.

Take a minute to count your blessings today. We all have more than we think we do. I’m going to try and be more grateful for mine.

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finally here

Well, we’ve been ‘here’ for a week, but we finally have Internet and are a little more settled. Word to the wise: Don’t ever move across the country unless someone else is paying your moving expenses.

So much has happened in the past two weeks that it’s hard to start writing again…information overload, I guess. So bear with me as I slowly get back to my old self.

In the meantime, here are the basics: Athens is humid, has lots of bugs, and doesn’t have a wealth of jobs for me to apply for. But the people are friendly (a guy at a gas station started talking to me, and my first reaction was to think he was a crazy person, but no– just friendly) the LDS church we go to here is VERY welcoming (which is completely different from our former ward), and I have lots of free time to do whatever I want to.

And what is it I want to do? Well, my number one ‘want’ is to see friends and family. Since that isn’t possible, I spend my days exercising, looking for jobs, unpacking and cleaning, lounging, finishing Harry Potter (finished last night!), and watching a lot of ‘What Not to Wear’ and ‘HGTV’. Do you envy me?!

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wanna smile, wanna cry, saying goodbye

Isn’t it interesting how some people come into your life and you connect in such a way that you know they’ll always be a part of you? And you never know ahead of time who will become so important to you.

My coworker Heather is one of those people. I didn’t even really know her for several years that I worked at ASU, and I don’t remember how we became friends. But once we did, I just felt a connection to her. She is genuine and kind, and a person whose integrity I admire. She is someone I aspire to be like.

We went to dinner tonight, the last time I’d be able to sit down and chat with her. As I drove home, black clouds covered the few stars visible in this city and a dust storm partially obscured my view of the road. Emmylou Harris’s achingly sad voice sang, Pancho and Lefty. And my heart hurt and I wanted to cry.

Sometimes this move across the country doesn’t seem real at all, but tonight, it does. Why can’t we take everyone we love with us? Why does embracing new opportunities and friends always mean letting go of other ones? Not that moving to Georgia means completely losing the friends and family I already have. But you know what I mean. It won’t be the way it is now ever again.

I’m thankful I got to know Heather and the many other people who have made my life better just because I know them. Will our paths cross again? I hope so. Because otherwise this goodbye would be too much to bear.

–hj

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sporadic posting

My posts are probably going to be pretty sporadic for the next little while. John and I are crazy busy packing for the move, trying to see all the friends and family we can before we go, and taking care of all the little things that go along with a move across the country.

And then there’s work. I thought I’d just coast for the last couple of weeks, but apparently they are going to squeeze every last bit of productivity out of me that they can. This week I started training the entire university to use the new PeopleSoft system for hiring faculty. Which means me standing in front of 40 people, instructing them for two hours on how to use the system. Two years ago, I know I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish such a thing. Now, I feel competent. I can speak up in a meeting. I can instruct people. I can create a new system for hiring faculty that is used by the entire university. I haven’t always loved my job, but I’m thankful for the things it taught me in the past year.

But I’m very stressed out by all the things I need to finish at work before I go. In fact, I haven’t been sleeping well lately because of it. This morning I woke up before 5am, and my mind was racing so much I couldn’t get back to sleep. I’ve got to get my stress under control before I have a meltdown. I think it’s time to start delegating my work to other people.

Anyway, my posts will be sparse for the next couple of weeks as we prepare to move. And then they’ll disappear for a week while we drive across the country to Athens, Georgia. But never fear. After that, I’ll be back online!

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update

A lot has happened since I last wrote. Sorry about that; I’m still getting used to wordpress. This place doesn’t feel like home yet, so forgive my lack of posting.

We had a great trip to St. Johns two weekends ago. St. Johns was beautiful and fun. It’s a very small town where everybody knows everyone else, kind of like where I’m from. It felt almost like home. And we saw so many people that John knew. It was great. Also, I met Kimbo, who I’ve been dying to meet ever since she started reading my blog. 🙂 And she called me gorgeous, so how can I not love her?!!

This past weekend we were in Kanab, Utah for a family reunion. We saw lots of family, swam, sat around doing nothing (yes!), and even took family pictures. It was a successful weekend. The only downside was that I burned my scalp (yet again!), oh, and I ate so much I probably gained 10 pounds.

And otherwise, the weeks are ticking by. In less than one month we’re going to be in Athens, Georgia. I’m getting more used to the idea, but I’m still scared! And I’m going to miss family and friends like you wouldn’t believe. The next four weeks are going to be a whirlwind of activity — traveling for family reunions, family parties, packing in our spare time (ha!), trying to see friends and looking for time to just relax. If I look stressed, you’ll know why. I just have to prevent a nervous breakdown, because I don’t need that on top of everything else!

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why not make several moves at once?

I’m thinking about moving my blog over to wordpress. Now that I see what it can do, I’m not sure why I didn’t choose it instead of blogger in the first place. I’m still thinking it over, because I’m not sure it’s worth the hassle. Plus, I don’t want the few of you who do read this blog to stop because I move.

But I’m leaning more and more toward wordpress by the minute…

Stay tuned.

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i’m back

Sorry. I’ve been sort of MIA lately. Here are the excuses:

1. I’ve been at Disneyland (the happiest place on earth) with John and several other members of my family. We had such a great time, but I was exhausted by the time we got back on Monday! It’s taken me all week just to recover.

2. I’m searching for a job, and I have 8 weeks to find one. So I’ve been in hyper focus mode. I spend time job searching every single day.

3. Work has been so busy. My boss leaves on vacation today, and I have been racing against the clock to finish projects before he left.

But those are all just excuses. I’m back again, ready to post again, because I have a LOT to say! So much going on. My husband broke the news a while ago on his blog, but I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned the fact that John and I are moving to Georgia at the end of July. I have so many emotions surrounding the move that it’s probably best saved for its own post. But needless to say, we are very busy cleaning, packing, finding a place to live, and job searching. And trying to see family and friends as often as we can before we live very, very far away from them.

Anyway, more thoughts later. Happy weekend all!

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