in response to my previous post

I have found the stress-relief cure! Go to the Walmart off 288!

No, there are no short check-out lines.
No, it is not really as clean as they want you to think.
No, it's not been evacuated by every other Dentonite except you.
And, no, the parking lot does not have a space by the door with your name on it.

What it does have, however, is people-watching fun.

For example, the "little person" i saw today who bust out a Michael Jackson move complete with the hat touch, cross-the-ankles-spin, pelvic thrust, and rhythmic "hee-hee! ow!"


Is there anything more stress-relieving than laughter?

stressed is desserts spelled backwards

So maybe if I eat a lot of chocolate this will all go away.

Stress from work. Things I can't change.
Sick. (strep?)

ok so that's all on my list - but still, if i was at liberty to share everything, you'd understand.

it's interesting how people advise you to handle it. yesterday the First Year Teacher Academy told me to "leave school at school" and breathe with ocean sounds in the background. some people tell me to drink (rum and tequila are readily available...) - part of me blames the fact that i missed yoga this week and i'm tempted to just curl in bed and sleep.

but that doesn't make it better. so glad that i have truth in my heart for moments like today when i went into the school bathroom and cried on the floor --

Psalm 9:10
Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.

Psalm 115:11
You who fear him, trust in the LORD— he is their help and shield.

Eccles 2:22-23
What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless.

1 Peter 5:7
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

The One Where Chandler tries to end his gym membership

A few weeks ago I had signed up for a free personal training session at the gym. It's free and an opportunity to learn something - I def never wanted to pay extra for it. Hence the signing-up-bc-it's-free part. But as I sat across the table of the muscular, friendly trainer to hear him talk about his plan for me and how we were going to reach my goals I realized that this would probably turn out more like the Friends episode than I was hoping. (see http://www.friends-tv.org/zz404.html for details if you're not a die-hard Friends fan)

As I've thought about that this afternoon I noticed a pattern in my speech that tends to go like this

"ugh my students will hate me"
"the parents will hate me and send me mean emails"
"they're probably thinking this about me"
"what if he thinks this about me?"
"what will she think?"
"how will she respond if i say what i'm really thinking/feeling?"

aka I'm fearful and allowing my expressions to be curbed by this fear.

Being in a different culture and speaking a different language that you don't fully understand can definitely bring this about. When you are a white woman dealing with the hurts and prejudices that some have of you and your culture (coming to "save the world" because "Americans are better than you") - it makes you self-aware, self-conscious, and always on the lookout for the signs that you've offended someone.

Not that I'm saying we shouldn't be aware, be slow to speak, and think thoroughly through our actions and words before they come out... however

Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe. Proverbs 29:25