Good Things Cause Stress

My life is good. A wonderful husband, an adorable toddler, two more children on the way, a loving family, a fulfilling career...

Over the years, I'm slowly starting to realize, that it is typically when my life is the "best" that I'm also full of stress. I think sometimes it's easy to forget that good things cause stress.

I look back at the Fall of 2003 and see that time period as the most stressful time of my life thus far. (Bo's birth rivaled it - and I have a feeling the next few months may surpass it!). In the Fall of 2003, I started my first teaching job, bought a home and remodeled it with Mike, planned my wedding, had numerous obligations and responsibilities as fair queen, and pretty much was so stressed I couldn't see straight. The fact that Mike married me in February 2004 still surprises me. I'm not sure I would have married me after living with me through that Fall.

Everything that was going on in my life during that time was GOOD. There was absolutely nothing bad going on in my life but I was still more stressed than I have ever been.

A great deal of my stress comes from an internal pressure that is difficult to describe to someone who has not experienced it themselves. A perfectionist mentality that causes good things to escalate quickly to insanity.

I've learned to deal with some of my perfectionism. I let toys grace my floor and don't pick them up every hour (or even every day!). I never thought I would be able to handle it. I realize that I don't have to cook a 5 course meal every night. Sometimes, I even let the laundry go one more day. But, in the recesses of my mind, it's there. And many days I still struggle to control the impulse to have my house look immaculate and accomplish everything on my to-do list. (Some people exacerbate these characteristics in me... )

I'm lucky -- Mike is a perfectionist too. Many of the same things that drive me crazy, also drive him crazy. I don't have to worry about dishes piling up or the floor being swept. If I really can't get to it, Mike will do it without being asked. I don't think I could be married to someone who reacted any other way. Bo and I are really going to miss him during this transition period while he is gone during the week. And not just because he's cleanly...

The point of all of this is -- good things cause stress. And while I know that moving and the birth of our twin girls is going to be a wonderful addition to our lives and definitely a good thing, I also think we are on the cusp of one of the most stressful times of our lives.

I know that the next few months and years aren't going to be easy. We're both going to be tired and pulled like rubber bands in too many directions.

My only hope is that it will all be worth it.