Calmer

I realized today that I need to work to make things a little less stressful for myself. Not that my life is high stress, really. Just that I don't react well when I try to do 10 million things at once, and surprise! Things don't go so well. Case in point - yesterday, trying to walk the dog, juggle the mail, enjoy the sunshine, and...well, you know how *that* went.

So today, I decided to stop and get the mail on the way home from a lovely lunch with a colleague. No packages - but some magazines, which are hard to carry while corralling a dog. Once I got home and enjoyed my greeting from the dog, we took a walk. And I tried to just enjoy the walk and the sunshine. And it was so much more enjoyable. Instead of stressing out about how long it was (it only takes a 1/2 hour, tops, and he enjoys it SO much), I enjoyed being in the sunshine and watching him shove his whole head into snow drifts (hilarious, btw). Being calmer seemed to make the dog calmer, too. He pulled less (or maybe I was pulling less...), he walked nicely, he didn't lunge (well, after his initial, yay, we're on a walk! lunge that he *always* does). It was so nice. So much less stressful.

Then we came home, I changed, and he played with his new toy and took a nap. And I got SO much done in the last 2.5 hours.

I mean, duh. Try to be calm and organized, and things tend to be calmer, and more organized. Who would have thought?