It's all about to kick off.....

I talked a couple of weeks ago about some fabulous resilience training that we had had at the practice. It was all about stress and how to deal with it and turns out it was very timely!

It's a bit 'stressy' in the Pearson household at the moment. Actually if I'm honest it's been a bit stressy for the last couple of months really. There has been so much going on that it has been difficult to keep it all under control. It's been bubbling under the surface and plenty of kind words, snacks, giving them the benefit of the doubt and taking a deep breath and counting to 10 has been going on but now it's all coming to a head and about to kick off big style. GCSE's start on Monday and A levels aren't far behind. It's a double whammy of exam stress coupled with a husband who wants to do his first Triathlon next weekend but is nursing a knee injury. Add in a wife of a certain age (hmm!) and a youngest daughter who is glued to a Kindle and you have the makings of a time bomb about to explode - and I'm sure it's not just us!

Stress is OK in the short term and can even be helpful. Our training told us that you can either view stress as something that is wreaking havoc on your body (and it can - ever felt it across your shoulders and down your back or had a headache that won't go away?) or as something that is giving you the strength and energy to overcome adversity. So it's all about creating a work-life balance and taking time out to rest and recharge. As Shawn Achor said "resilience is about how you recharge not how you endure".

So how are the Pearsons going about keeping calm and carrying on?

Beating real life stress in our own ways, what's yours?

We are all dealing with stress in different ways -

Ben has returned to yoga after a couple of weeks break and had forgotten just how much he loves it. He recommends Gillie Sutherland an excellent yoga teacher who runs a variety of classes in and around Exeter. He can often be found doing some weird pose in the office at lunchtime but it helps him relax so who am I to judge and Chrissy our Practice Manager is getting used to it now!

I'm swimming. I have found that if I can swim every morning it gives me time to think and put the day in order. I've also taken to writing a list of 6 jobs at night for the following day - it's a simple thing but really helps focus my mind.

Daughter number 1 who is doing A levels has a plant nursery that she is nurturing in the bathroom. Ridiculously I have just counted 42 pots with cuttings in them but when she is stressed and the revision is getting too much she goes in there and nurtures, waters and chats to her plants and it works for her.

Daughter number 2's GCSE's start on Monday so she turns to music. She has a playlist of all her favourites and settles down for a sing along. The only problem with that is that we have to listen to it too - anyone else know the soundtrack to The Greatest Showman off by heart yet?

And the youngest has made herself a camp in a cupboard. She's filled it with duvets and pillows and sits there quietly reading a book on her Kindle and hoping no-one will notice she is there. Perhaps she's got the best idea and I might just join her.

Have a good weekend and Love Life

Chrissy Still

14 May 2018