Dealing with stress

Stress seems to intensify the pain of fibro and my life is more stressful now than when I was able to work. I am always trying new tactics to at least temporarily reduce the stress. The tactics I try are generally things that can be done in just a few minutes since I may fall asleep if I relax for too long.

Mindfulness is the most recent addition to my stress relief effort. Simply put, mindfulness is briefly acknowledging what ever thoughts or feelings are troubling you and letting it go, not dwelling on it. This does not work for me with every situation, such as when worried about a sick family member, but for situations like being angry with some one, it does seem to do the job quite well for something so simple.

Another thing that helps is journaling. I have used this off and on for years which is what led me to try blogging. When Mom died in 2006 I began addressing the entries of my journal to her and wrote as if I were writing a letter to her. This accomplished a few things: 1) It eased the pain of losing her. 2) It helped me resolve some issues that were bugging me about some things that went undiscussed when she was alive. And, 3) It made it a bit easier to transition into life with out her, I still felt as if I were still able to tell her about things I would have shared with her when she was alive, like when one of the kids did something cute or funny or if I read something I thought she would be interested in. Sometimes I even tried to write back as if from her point of view, which really helped with the guilt I felt about letting the doctors give her morphine when she was near the end even though she had said years earlier that she never wanted morphine. My reason for allowing it was the right reason, I wanted her not to be in pain as she died, but I still felt guilty.

Also, on occasion, I try diversion. This has been especially helpful when dealing with the pain that is not relieved by my medicine, and, to a lesser extent, the fatigue. If I can distract myself with a quick game of "Chicken Invaders", I am not bothered by the pain as much.If I play a game on the Wii, sometimes I can get past the need to take a nap. I have found that diversion works only for a short while, since the pain creeps back to the center of my attention or the fatigue will over come me and cause me to fall asleep.

After using these coping strategies several times a day for many days, I find that I start doing them without even thinking about it so it becomes less a chore.