Stress Lessons

Being the primary president completely threw me for a loop.  I have been, in the biggest understatement of the year, stressed.

Oh yes.

But as I look back on the past little while, I can see that there are lessons to be learned.

1) Be supportive even when you are living with a raving lunatic.

Adam and our children have taught me this over and over.  And over.  They patiently ride out the time(s) when I am freaking out.  They aren't phased by tears or irrationality.  These are priceless skills to have in family members.  The first Sunday I told Braeden and Emma to come running if they heard me yelling for help from the general direction of the primary room.  They solemnly promised they would.  If they rolled their eyes, they didn't let me see it.

2) The upside of feeling overwhelmed is sharpened priorities (and limits on your narcissism).

Typically going to a brand new ward when I knew only a small percentage of the people, I think I may have wondered what to wear.  I may have felt a little self conscious and hoped the people I didn't know would like me.  I didn't even think about it.  I just tried to survive.  Also, I didn't have time to obsess about what my writing group thought about the chapters I'd sent them to read.  No time to worry about it.  (And that's something because I can obsess.  Believe me.)

3) Don't underestimate the impact of a kind word.

Two different women that I don't know, primary teachers, told me on the phone that they have been in my position before.  They told me I could do it.  They told me it would get easier.  One of them told me she was praying for me.  Sometimes kindnesses are just kindnesses and I'm grateful.  But sometimes, they are lifelines.  You never know.  So I want to be a little kinder.  Just in case someone needs a lifeline.

4)  Pray

Sometime prayers are answered quickly.  Sometimes they aren't.  But I know they're answered.  I know too much and have felt too much to deny that.

So I'm going to try to be supportive of other people when they need it (or even when I don't know how much they need it).  I'm going to try to keep important things on the top of my priority list.

And I'm going to keep praying.

Oh yes.