The Stress Monster

Is it the mid-semester crunch or am I failing to get a grip on my stress levels? Spring break has afforded me no reprieve as I feel like a “chicken running with its head cut off”. I was excited and motivated when I set out on my mission to quit smoking. Now, I’m afraid that motivation is slipping away as I juggle online courses (that has disregarded spring break due to lack of the school’s planning), related homework, deadlines, and other various objectives outside school. Right now, I’m “flying by the seat of pants” to juggle all that I need to get done every day. My mom’s visit this weekend was rushed and wound up not being as pleasant and relaxing as we both would have liked because I am absolutely stressed out!

I’m still searching for a way to build that “margin” into my life that I wrote about in my last blog. Smoking cessation experts say that a person should not choose a quit date during high peaks of stress because of the low success rate. I fall into that category, but I still want to quit? So, how do I get these extreme stress levels under control? And how do I even find the time to back up for a moment and evaluate my work overload? I’m treading water right now, ya’ll? I’m just tackling tasks as they’re thrown at me. Using mindfulness as the tactic to approaching my busy days seems to have gotten lost. Maybe this is just the life of a college student, but it’s freaking me out?!

I want to throw in the towel on trying to quit smoking because I see no end in sight. I’m feeling powerless and completely frustrated! This will be a short blog because I am on overload with no solutions and blogging about my nicotine monster is only adding to the frustrating failure. Let’s hope my next blog is more positive?