The Christmas Crunch

Whew! I was hyperventilating this afternoon as I was trying to wade through all the things I had to do before our exercise class at 6:00 p.m. I needed to finish up the ornament booklet for the grandkids that I talked about last week, mail a package, get two presents ready to deliver tonight, and clean up a few messes that I had made in three different rooms--not to mention fixing a bite to eat this evening. I kept making mistakes on the ornament booklet and having to redo things, I could not find a couple of gifts in my wrapping paper mess in the bedroom, and I burned what I was cooking for supper! That was when the hyperventilating began and I remembered what our exercise coach says--to stop and listen to our breathing and our heart beating for just a few minutes. That way we calm down and focus on what is important. I went into the bedroom--the one that was not a mess--and relaxed on the bed. I focused on relaxing all parts of my body. I listened to my breathing and my heart beating. I fell asleep for about five minutes. Then I woke up, fixed all the things that needed fixing, found the items I was missing, and zoomed through the rest of the afternoon. Just those few minutes of relaxation saved the day!