Gray Wolf Productions

Tag: stress

  • Yoga: Good For Your Heart

  • TV Ads, Stress, And Anxiety

    stressI was recently working on a course [and now doing an ebook] about stress – and so I was very tuned into my own levels of stress and anxiety.

    I was trying to figure out something about how to catch the start of that stress while it is motivating and before it goes over to being the “bad” level of stress.

    I’ve always known that I have an antenna for stress and anxiety and I tend to pick those from other people – which was good [in a way] when I was a therapist but I had to watch that it did not raise mine which was a hard task sometimes.

    Anyway, while working on this course, when I took a break I tended to watch television.

    I don’t watch television that much but my neighbors gifted me with a little flat screen TV – so I bought an antenna and again can watch some non-cable stuff.

    First thing I realized was why I hate TV.

    I really do hate the medical ads.

    I’ve written about them before in the context of we have a pill for everything because no matter what’s “wrong” with you there’s a pill – and of course we at big pharma tell you what’s “wrong” even if it’s a normal human behavior like peeing.

    ARGH!!!!!

    But I digress -which is easy when big pharma is on my mind.

    anxietyAnyway – while listening to [and not actually viewing] the ads, I realized that the tone of speech, the music, and the way the whole ad unfolds, actually raises one’s anxiety level and increases one’s stress!

    I guess it was designed that way by the admen to send you screaming to your physician saying

    I want that pill!

    Whatever it is!

    I want it!!

    SIGH – so miss the days of TV when pills were not allowed to be advertised.

    Now they are and they have created a whole slew of problems.

    More about those at another time.

    Thoughts? Comments?

    Thank you!

  • My 2nd Udemy Course Is The 1st One Done

    stop stressing about stressOver a year ago, I started to put together an online class about Nutrition.

    I told Udemy it could be ready in 6 weeks. I was a seasoned college professor and thought I could quickly put together the syllabus and start filling in the “lecture” content and do the videos. HA!

    My first setback was when I discovered that my old Sony camcorder was not “good enough” anymore as it didn’t do HD recording.

    So I had to figure how else was I going to do the video since the courses have to be video. I tried different things and kind of just gave up for a while because nothing was working.

    Then I got a new [and much needed] computer with a good camera and microphone. But first I had to learn the new operating system as I went from a very old Mac to the newest one.

    After fiddling with lights, etc. my decision was to do an “easy” PowerPoint presentation with voice over. Alas, it turns out there’s a glitch in the newest version of PowerPoint for Mac so that when you record a voice over on PowerPoint it won’t save the narration.

    Having already bought Keynote – I decided – “okay I guess it’s time to learn Keynote” [but I didn’t really want to do that.] Luckily, someone teaching on Udemy did a course on Keynote and I learned how to use it and started back to work on the Nutrition course.

    In the middle of all of this – and teaching an online course for a local college – I finally found the Lab puppy I had been looking for. Which, if you have ever done puppy things, meant house training, taking care of, and all those other puppy events.

     [I look back now and wonder how did I ever manage to do the puppy stuff again. It had been many years since I had a puppy as the last dog I had was adopted when he was three.]

    Working away at the course and other life stuff, my hard drive crashed. Yes it was a relatively new computer, only a few months old, and all was under warranty. It is a laptop – but getting it fixed meant having to keep going back to the Apple Store because there were constant glitches that prevented my being able to get online. And I really needed to be online because I had to download my storage from the cloud backup.

    Finally, the entire operating system had to be re-downloaded and re-installed.

    And in the midst of all of this, it turns out I had a puppy who did not like being left home alone – so each time I had to run down to the Apple Store I had to get a puppy sitter. Luckily my neighbors could keep her a few times, and a good friend of mine was in town visiting her son and she had the time to come over and puppy sit. I am so thankful for good friends…

    During this time, the course on Nutrition kept growing because I realized I had more to say than I originally planned. And honestly, by then I got sick of the whole process because that course reminded me of the problems with the puppy and the computer.

    And, because it was again  nearing that time of year, I had to get ready to teach my other online class for the local college.  I decided instead to do a very short Udemy course on stress.  [Gee – I wonder where that topic came from.]

    Even though it was to be a short course and it basically is, I do not have a linear brain and it’s very hard for me to follow a template or a pattern so formatting the course sections took longer then it would for most others.

    And middle of all of this, I upgraded to the Mavericks operating system. And that meant there were updates to most everything on my computer including Keynote. ARGHHHHHHHHH

    I’m not even getting into weather related issues, my ability to procrastinate, or the death of a friend….

    To make this rather long story much shorter, I basically decided I was just going to finish this thing, publish it, and see what happens!

    I was literally getting sick and tired of working with Keynote, fiddling with having to make things kind of similar from lecture to lecture, and all of that – so I recorded stopped fiddling, recorded the slides with voiceover, exported into QuickTime, uploaded the files to Udemy, finished all the other little thingies like descriptions and all that and hit publish – basically without really reviewing the whole thing because I was that sick of it.

    But it’s done…and I feel a sense of relief….

    I had taken my own advice to Stop Stressing About Stress

    And maybe, just maybe, I can get back to the 1st course, the one on Nutrition…..

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Technology, Stress, and Backup Plans

    OY OY OY

    • My computer stopped working.
    • The hard drive crashed.
    • I have all my work on it.
    • I am totally stressed out.

    What do I do to survive all this stress?

     ###########

    We now live in a high-tech culture.

    Technology is part of our everyday lives.

     our worl is technology

    • We use computers.
    • We have Wi-Fi all over the place!
    • We have iPads and tablets.
    • We have iPhones and smart phones.

    Many of us work online, bank and pay bills online, communicate online, and generally love the technology available to us.

    That is until it does not work.

    ISPs stop working, or work so slowly that they are useless.

    Programs don’t do what we thought they should do.

    And then there is the:

    “OMG – my hard drive crashed!”

    Any of the above issues, especially the last one, can lead to stress – so we have to figure out how to cope with that stress – preferably planning for it ahead of time.

    Why? Because technology issues are a part of our lives.

    Having had many hard drives crash over the years, you’d think I’d have learned to back up but I never did. I only made copies of some of my writings.

    But the last time I bought a computer, I bought a Mac laptop. Laptops are more prone to issues because they can get dropped, they can get stolen and they can get things bumped into them, etc.

    Especially if you have pets.

    When I got the new computer, I actually bought a years worth of a backup plan called Crashplan. When you buy such a plan, it is with the hope that you never ever have to use it and see if it really works.

    So when my “OMG the hard drive crashed” happened, I was sort of stress-ready.

    Having read good things about Crashplan, a bulk of my stress was alleviated because I knew that all of what had been on my computer was somewhere up there in the “cloud.” [Fingers crossed.]

    yoga

     

    But a dead hard drive is still stressful. So to get more calmed down, I did some yoga and meditating. I also took my puppy on a few walks and talked to my son and a friend…. And vocalizing the stress helped.

    It all came down to this…I kept telling myself that there really was nothing else for me to do…the worst-case scenario was that I’d have to start all that work all over again.

    The ending?

    I picked up the computer and started the restore process.

    A few glitches and errors on my part and it was working – slowly [ISP issues] – but working.

    Then many [many, many] hours later, the message was on my screen that my restore was done.

    Everything was restored to where it had been…amazing technology!

    All in the clouds……cloud storage

    That I was tired for a few days after this was a signal that I had been more stressed than I thought….so more yoga, more puppy walks, and more relaxing in the sun was called for….

    Lessons learned…you need:

    • back up plans
    • yoga
    • healthy eating
    • great tech support
    • great customer service
    • patience

     

    Thoughts? Comments?

     

    Thank you…

     

     

     

  • About Stress and 5 Stress Busters

    stressAre you stressed?


    Why we have so many more people feeling stressed these days has been attributed to factors such as job concerns, crime, changing societal and religious practices, etc.

    I am not sure what stresses you, but I do know that the two reasons most people do not sleep well at night are worries about their health and about their finances. 

     
    Like the picture shows – when you are worried about health and money – ringing phones are themselves a stressor!

    And I also know that stress leads to a lack of adequate sleep and that stress is a major cause of health problems.
     
    Caveat – some stress is good for us – it can be motivating. 
     

    This post is about that stress which can be harmful and bad stress takes one on a cycle of – well – more stress.

    The cycle goes like this:
    • worry about health and money
    • sleep less well
    • get more stressed
    • get stress-related illnesses
    • worry more about health
    • sleep even less well
    • get even more stressed
    • and so on…..

    Here are 5 ways to start reducing your stress:

    1 – you must get adequate sleep

    How?
    • going to bed at the same time every evening
    • not watching TV in bed
    • not having an argument before bedtime
    • not reading murder mysteries at bedtime
    • no late night eating – except maybe a glass of warm milk
    Hard? Yes. Impossible? No!

    2- you must exercise

    I know it’s harder to exercise when you are stressed. So think of daily small things you can do that make your body move. 
    • stairs instead of elevators 
    • walking more 
    • jumping jacks. 
    • hopping or running in place in your house while watching TV or listening to the radio

    3- you must eat properly

    This means the right nutrition and at the right times because bodies need fuel just like your car does – and your body needs the right fuel and at the right time just like your car does.
    • eat only when you are actually hungry
    • snack on vegetables and fruit
    • drink more water – a lot of “feeling” hungry is actually a need for hydration
    • avoid soft drinks
    • eat breakfast every day

    4- you have to socialize

    • spend quiet time with family
    • go for a walk with friends
    • hang out on Facebook or Twitter
    • chat with your neighbors

    5 – And the hardest for many – you must earn more income

    I know the economy is not great but there are home-based business models that do well in an economic downturn. 
    • check out the company [due diligence]
    • find a product that you really love and use it
    • talk to your friends
    • don’t expect overnight success – be patient but always take a daily step forward with your new business.

     

    Comments? Thoughts? Thank you!

     

     


  • Why Do You Want To Be Stress Free?

    stressed?

     I'm sure we all have an answer – but in reality you should never want to be stress free. HUH?

    Why?

    Because you are human!

    And because stress is good for you!

    Stress is as natural a part of a human life as is breathing. Stress is most simply our body’s reaction to “something” in our environment that is making us a bit out of balance [or homeostasis.] Physically, and mentally, we want to be in balance and so we react to this balance shift. It is our mental and emotional reaction to this shifting that determines the type and level of stress.

    Stress has negative, positive and neutral definitions:

    • something that causes mental or emotional strain
    • omething that we put extra emphasis or significance on
    • the mechanical/physical definitions related to torque

    Just being alive and interacting with our social and physical environment creates stress or “off balance-ness” and we can add more by how much we emphasize or give importance to what we are doing in those environments.

    And physically – just standing, sitting and breathing create mechanical and/or physical stress.

    We just aren’t used to thinking of the positive or mechanical sides of stress when we think STRESS! We think it’s like the image above!

    Think for a moment that the positive and negative definitions can fit the exact same stressful situation. One can be very happy and enthusiastic about something with significance and yet be negatively stressed about it as well…think weddings or having a baby….

    We are never stress-free. We are human. Our stress may be good or it may be bad – but it is here to stay in our lives.

     

    So what do we do about our stress if it’s always here?

    Learn about it and use it to our advantage!

    P.S. 2 down on my ebook writing list is one on stress – stay tuned for it's publication

    Comments Thoughts?

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