10 Best Home Tennis Stringing Machine

Best Home Tennis Stringing Machine in 2023

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My New Years Resolution for 2020: To Be Far Less High Strung and 5 Ways I Plan to Accomplish the Unstringing

A 2020 New Years Resolution to learn to relax and plans for how to do so.

I've lost 70 pounds in the last 7 months, and with 15 more pounds to go, I am feeling much better about myself than I was last year. I eat extremely well and I exercise somewhat regularly. My blood pressure and cholesterol levels bear out the health benefits of my weight loss with lowered numbers all around. I will continue on the way that I am already going, but these oh-so-common resolutions simply aren't good enough for a true 2020 New Years resolution.

So, while losing a bit more weight and keeping fit are high priority, it took me some real soul searching to find what I really need to resolve to do for myself, and my family, in the year 2020. I need to learn how to be less high strung, less tightly wrapped, less whatever you choose to call someone who is always in a state of high alert, ready to react, or often, overreact to any situation, no matter how small. All of the weight loss and exercise does me precious little good if I cannot find a way out of being in a constant state of warp speed stress and anxiety.

Upon choosing the New Years resolution for 2020 I found myself wanting the answer as to why I, or anyone, is high strung versus being laid back. I searched the web, using various key words, looking for the answer. I took personality tests. I learned about ennegrams and gland functions, and the theory behind them, and found that my personality, body type and the way I think is ruled by my thymus gland. Some tiny gland in my upper chest, that all but disappears after one hits puberty, has and continues to shape my whole life? Huh?

The more I read and researched, the more desperate I became for the reasonable answer, as I truly cannot stand it when I don't know the answer to something. Who could I ask? What celebrated doctor or psychologist could I interview to see if they held the magic key to why some folk are laid back while others, like me, are wrapped as tightly as an over tuned piano.

Finally, my very wise 24 year old daughter asked me one question. "Mom," she said, "Can you remember a time when you weren't high strung?" Not quite understanding the intent behind her question, I spoke of a week long vacation in the Caribbean, the one completely relaxed week of my life. Finally, I said, "I was born high strung. I have always been this way, just like your little brother came out of the womb tightly wrapped." "Right", she replied, "It just how you are and the why is irrelevant. It's what you do about it" So very true! I do not need to know why I am so overly emotional and overly reactive to resolve to change it in 2020. But, how to begin?

Act As If...

With the unanswerable question of the why of my excitable personality chased away, I began to truly focus on how to achieve my goal. Again, it was my daughter who reminded me of the time honored, "Act as if..." or the "fake it until you make it" technique, first used and documented by Alfred Adler, an Austrian physician and psychologist. Along with Sigmund Freud and others, Adler co-founded the psychoanalytic movement in the early 1900's.

"Act as if..." works just like it sounds. One acts as if they are whatever they want to be, but are not, until it becomes an ingrained way of living. So, I need to think and act as if I am not high strung. I need to practice being calm, cool and collected in order for it to become a habit. While acting as if sounds pretty easy, it's really quit challenging! I have been working at acting as if I am a calm person since my chat with my daughter.

Sometimes I remember not to react or overreact to a situation before I come undone, and am able to change my reaction into appropriate action. Sometimes, I remember midway through a perceived crisis, stop myself, and begin again, responding as if I am calm, peaceful person dealing with whatever molehill that I am making a mountain out of at that moment. And sometimes, I completely forget until it's all over and my blood pressure is already through the ceiling. Then I settle my rattled little self down and recommit myself to faking my way into being a more peaceful person until I am the relaxed, unstrung person that I wish to be.

Quiet Time: Prayer or Meditation

Most of us have read, or heard, that quiet time is very important to our mental and physical health. That means completely quiet, quiet time. Not time spent in front of the TV or computer, it means time when you focus your over worked mind on something other than your constant daily stresses. Dr. Mehmet Oz and others suggest that everyone needs to take 60 minutes of this type of quiet time each day, no matter what. Some say that your life depends on it. For a person like me, I believe that to be true.

For many of us, we need to learn how to turn off our brains and to remove ourselves from the worldly worries for even 10 short minutes. Some find that yoga works. Others have the discipline it take to properly practice meditation. For me, I know that quiet time in prayer works wonders. It doesn't seem to matter what I pray about; often I just talk to God like I'd talk to my best friend. I pray while laying in bed, so while my mind relaxes, my body relaxes, and often I pray myself to sleep, so I choose to have my quiet, prayer time when I can safely sleep for a bit.

Since this works so very well for me, I resolve to take time out during the day- put myself in time out, if need be, to quiet myself with a few moments of laying down and praying when I begin to get too worked up. With hope, I'll relax, gather my thoughts, and return to life, or any situation, with a settled mind and body.

Exercise: Dance

Yes, here's they tried and true stress reduction suggestion. I resolve to exercise every day, not only to keep fit, but to burn off some of the endless nervous tension that I carry with me, like an albatross, each day. However, I do not want this exercise to be an added stress or burden. Another, "Oh, darn, I need to..." sort of thing thing. I want it to be fun and joyful, so I resolve to dance for 20 to 30 minutes every day.

I love to dance, but rarely make the time to do it. Well, I have CD's and a way to play them. I have floor space and motivation, so what's been stopping me? I will dance with my equally tightly wrapped, four year old son every afternoon, when Daddy isn't around to laugh at us. I am sure that it will do both of us a world of good, for having tried it, I can say dancing to burn off excess energy is a lot fun, and a darned good workout, to boot!

Set A Decent Bed Time And Stick To It

Right now, it's 9:45 p.m. By the time that I am done writing this article, editing a bit, reading it over and over a few times, it will probably be 10:30. Something will keep me at the computer until 11 p.m., and then I'll want to listen to the news. Finally, I'll hop into bed and begin to read to "unwind."

Apparently, it takes me a very long time to unwind, as on any given night, I will finally turn out the light at 1 a.m. or later. I am not a great sleeper, waking every couple of hours for 10 or more minutes, then I am up between around 8 a.m. Oh, and when I do finally turn off the lights, it will take me, at the very least, 30 minutes to fall asleep. Obviously, I am not getting nearly enough sleep. Also, equally obvious, if I am in a constant state of sleep deprivation, I am not going to be at my tippy top when it comes to dealing with day to day stresses peacefully.

Hence, I resolve to choose a more suitable bedtime and bedtime routine, and to stick to it. This is going to be very tough for me. Once I have every one off to bed and I am alone, no matter how tired I may be, I get my second wind. This is when I get all of my own work done. I'll need to rework my day to get my own stuff done earlier. I need to use better "sleep hygiene" and not spend time in front of the computer or TV close to bedtime. I shouldn't read in bed, either, so the experts say, but that's going to be hard to give up. In 2020, I resolve to be in bed by 10 p.m. and to turn out the lights by 11:30 p.m.

Stop Skipping Meals: Eat Breakfast

I don't eat breakfast. I don't *think* that I have time to eat breakfast, just as I don't *think* that I have the time to take my time with anything. And besides, it will be lunch time soon, anyway, won't it? Yet, the same experts I keep bringing up, tell me that eating breakfast is a must to maintain a steady blood sugar level, as well as to aid in continued weight loss and prevent emotional eating later in the day. Three meals a day, and two small snacks is to be my goal. So much time wasted eating! Can I commit to that?

Hard though it may be, it makes sense to do so. I've always been prone to hypoglycemia, and if you have any experience with being overly hungry or a little low in the blood sugar area, then you'll also know that any person in such a state is a walking time bomb of emotions until that person is fed. Therefore, I resolve to eat some sort of breakfast and to eat a couple of small snacks each day. These snacks can be something as easy as an orange, some grapes or a small handful of nuts. Since my four year old has be running to the kitchen many times a day, I'll make it a habit to remember to get myself a little something, also. I may have to post a note. I get so busy in my head that I forget to eat, so taking the time to eat, and I literally mean allowing myself that time to eat, cannot be bad, either, as I'll be forced to sit down and relax for a few minutes. Maybe I need to change my perception of time, all together...hmmm, next year.

No Caffeine, More Water

There was a time, not so long ago, when I drank coffee around the clock, and I do mean around the clock. I worked too many, very odd and very changeable hours and I never went anywhere without coffee, and that included bed. At that time, the caffeine seemed to have little effect on me.

These days, I am well on my way to an anxiety attack before I am half way through one cup of morning coffee. A sensible person might realize that perhaps caffeine can be done away with all together, if this is the effect of less than one cup of coffee. Since I am a sensible person, I resolve in this coming New Year to switch to decaf. I love the taste of coffee and I love my green tea, but it's the taste and antioxidants that I crave, not the stimulation.

Since both beverages can be found in decaf forms, I will drink those instead. A high strung person doesn't really need any substance that will up the emotional ante, does she? Nope. I will also drink more water in 2020, and will post notes in various places around the house as reminders as I am often so "busy" that I forget to drink, even when thirsty.

A friend once told me that even when I was sitting perfectly still, that I looked as if I were vibrating. While that's an apt description, and a humorous visual image, it's very uncomfortable to be packing around so much raw energy every day. I truly hope and pray that my 2020 New Years resolution is kept, with booming success. Thus, I will begin now to put all of this great passion and energy to better use. In 2020, I will create the 30 hour day.