Controlling what you can

Getting rid of stress is important in normal situations. But this is harder when things get really wonky. The unexpected happens. If you feel unstressed and on-top of all the daily details in normal situations, then it is easier to react to the unexpected. A perfect example is what my family is going through now.

Our unexpected is my husband’s job. We are facing a layoff or a possible new job overseas. If he is laid off, we hope to get another job right here. But, we could also be faced with moving and selling our home in this bad economy. And, we can all imagine the hassle of moving overseas on a moment’s notice! And, what about the kids? By the time anything is decided, they will have already been in school several months.

So, my solution is to control what I can and to prepare for everything else. I can control when we move up to a point. We decided that it would be best that I stay here with the kids for this school year. That way, we are not wondering where we will be living and going to school next month. A huge amount of stress gone right there! My kids go to school year round, which means they are out of school for 3 weeks every 9 weeks. With the holidays mixed in, we will still be spending half our time together this year. And, once things settle down, I’ll make specific plans for next year.

The irony of this is that this will only work because my children go to a year round school. And, our unexpected stress last year was being forced onto this school calendar and having to reorient how we planned everything.

The lesson I learned from this is that we never know what the future holds, so try to be in a position to react and roll with the punches. We all know that if you get stressed out in difficult times, it can rub off on your kids. After all, this could be our family’s biggest adventure ever, and I don’t want to spoil it by getting stressed out!