Just breathe

Lately I've been having to remind myself to breathe.

When I get really stressed out or frustrated at work, I sit on the floor. At this point, my students know they need to get right to work and start behaving. I'm a fan of this tactic, and one of my students once told me it's a non-threatening way of letting them know that I am not too happy with them and that I need a moment to breathe.

Unfortunately, I can't sit down when I get overwhelmed in every situation in life. Instead, all I can really do is breathe. Recently, it seems that's often all I can do.

For instance, today was going just great until a woman in the parking lot didn't see me pull up next to her and swung her door straight into mine, leaving a nasty dent in my door. Instead of apologizing, she said that I pulled in there pretty sneakily and that it was a shame they "make cars like pieces of s*** nowadays." Just breathe.

Sometimes Fla-Vor-Ice helps, too.

Then there was yesterday morning at the start of Too Hot To Handle. I already get terrible pre-race anxiety, and I thought I was going to need a paper bag for breathing when my Garmin lost reception moments before the race began. I had no idea what my pace was for the first two miles, and everything was off for the rest of the race. Just breathe.

Last weekend wasn't exactly a piece of cake, either. I bought a new bed, and I purchased a bed frame, along with a new sofa, from IKEA (which was a trip of stopping to breathe in itself). My mattress and IKEA items were all delivered on the 4th of July, so I spent most of that day inside my apartment building things. When the IKEA stuff was delivered, the guys put the massive, heavy sofa pieces on the wrong wide of the room, and I asked if they could move that box to where it needed to go. One of them said "You have to assemble it yourself." Yes, I was aware of that. I told him I wasn't asking him to build it for me—I just wanted help moving it to the right spot. He looked at me, said "You do it," and then walked out the door. My blood started boiling. Just breathe.

Then, while I was building my bed, I completely messed up on something (there were no words in the instructions—only pictures), and I had to take it all apart and redo it. Then, when I finally got to the end at almost 11:30 that night, I realized there was a critical piece missing. (I found out the next morning that it was sold separately, only no one had informed me that I would need it. Sorry, I'm not a carpenter and was unaware of this info.) I had my new mattress, and I couldn't even lay it flat on the floor to sleep on it, because the frame with the missing part was taking up too much room. I'm glad I built my sofa first, because I had to sleep on it that night. Just breathe.

There are so many small things in life that can seem like such big deals at the time. Traffic? Breathe. Groceries falling out of your bag in the parking lot? Breathe. Getting in what you think is the short line at the store only to have the person in front of you whip out about 27 coupons? Breathe. Looking at all of the work/homework you have in front of you and realizing you need about four more hours in each day? Breathe. Awkward encounter with someone you would prefer not to see? Breathe. Running out of gas on 75 on one of the hottest days of the year? Breathe.

Just breathe.

Sometimes life spins so fast, and it's too much to try to outrun it or even keep up. I have to keep reminding myself that it's out of my hands, and it's all in His—where it all belongs. In those moments, all I can do is breathe.

And sit on the floor when possible.