Thinking About Why I Stressed Out Yesterday

I'm sitting here, in the quiet of an early Sunday morning, listening to the birds and watching the baby bunnies eat the clover in my garden. I need this peace.

I'm still trying to figure out why I had such a reaction to a stressful day yesterday, and I think its mostly because my nutrition was lacking and I'm too hard on myself.

I worked all morning helping my boss represent our pool at a Safety Saturday event. It took place outside, next to Madison's famous farmer's market. It was a great morning, the rain held off, but after 4 hours I was feeling a little spent.

I was looking forward to getting some healthy lunch and recouping, but when I returned to my car, I had a flat tire. I had just paid the garage ticket too! I knew there was no way I could get the spare on in less than 20 minutes, so I ran down to the garage office and told them I'd need a new ticket.

For a moment, I thought, has someone slashed my tire in the hopes of making me a parking garage victim? I scoped the area, no creepos around.

I remembered what my dad had taught me about changing a tire. I can do this. I removed the spare, put together the jack, and started to work on those lug nuts. My body couldn't perform what my spirit could. Those nuts were on too tight and would not budge.

I ran down to the garage office once again and called a tow truck. Thankfully I didn't have to wait too long. He helped me get the spare on and even allowed me to follow him to the next gas station so I could hit the ATM to pay him in cash, giving me a discount, and he made sure the donut spare had enough air in it.

Then the stress started to kick in. I think I felt bad that I couldn't get those lug nuts off myself. I could think of so many things I'd rather had spent that $40 on!

I began to worry about how I'd get to work Monday, knowing I shouldn't drive far on this donut. I tried to stop and find a tire store on the way home. One was closed, the other wanted way too much and didn't have 4 new tires in stock. We knew we needed new tires and now that DH is starting work on Monday, we had discussed buying new tires before our trip to Kansas.

I drove home, stopping at Subway to pick up a sympathy sandwich. I treated myself to their new low fat chicken salad on a 6 inch wheat. It was a very late lunch, and I realized my emptiness hadn't helped during this stress event.

I basically ate my sandwich and planted roots on the sofa. I was tired and had a headache. DH came home from DS's Yu-Gi-Oh event, and I was happy to hear they had a great time, but I needed taking care of. DH took over, and I finally decided to take some Advil.

This morning, rested, I can see things more clearly. The flat tire was not my fault. Being too weak to get lug nuts off is nothing to be ashamed of. I did make it home without another flat. We had to put off buying tires because DH was unemployed. Who's to say even if we had new tires, I still wouldn't have had that flat? DH starts work tomorrow so we can spend the money on needed new tires now without much worry. As for work on Monday, they'll do fine without my help. I'll be able to catch up later.

I'm still disappointed in myself for basically couch crashing after I got home. I had zero energy and a throbbing head. This is our last weekend together before DH goes back to work. I don't want to be a party pooper.

Today has been given to me to make it a better day. Rested and fed, I'll take this morning to once again thank God for helping me through yesterday's unplanned stress. I'll make THIS day what I want- a day shared with my family, stress free.