Music, My Stress Reliever

The last few weeks have been really intense for me. I picked up some new responsibilities at work and they have been consuming me. There have been a few times in my life when my mind has become so saturated with a single topic that I find myself thinking about it almost constantly. Trying to finish my research for my Ph.D. was one of those times. I remember dreaming about solving equations. Sometimes those dreams were very helpful. In fact, being so consumed by something usually made me extremely efficient in accomplishing whatever it was I was trying to accomplish.

Learning German was another example of this. I lived the language so much that I began to dream in German. That's when I knew I was succeeding. When I got in the groove, I made a lot of progress learning the language.

Recently, I've become consumed by these new responsibilities at work in a similar way. I've found myself dreaming about the issues I'm dealing with. Although I feel like I'm getting in the groove and I feel hopeful that I'll get my hands around this new job, I'm also becoming a bit too stressed. It's hard to focus on other important things; I'm getting less sleep; and my patience is a little thinner than it should be. I snapped at one of my children today and he definitely didn't deserve it. Thankfully I apologized right away and he was really mature about it.

So, like many other times in my life, I've found myself turning to music for release. I've pulled out my guitar a couple times lately and have really enjoyed belting out some favorites songs. I recently played in a variety show at my church with a good friend - we played and sang 'Sounds of Silence' by Simon and Garfunkel. That was a blast!

And yesterday, on my way home from a business trip, I turned up the music on my iPod and cycled through my favorite music almost the entire plane ride home. Really helpful after an extremely long and busy week. I also watched parts of 'Les Miserables' again on the plane, fast forwarding to my favorites songs. Once again, some of the music brought tears to my eyes and the emotional release was great! I think I counted five songs that got the tears going: 'On My Own', 'A Little Fall of Rain', 'Empty Chairs at Empty Tables', and 'Valjean's Death' and 'Epilogue' - though the last two, I really consider to be a single song. And it's probably my favorite.

I think I'm in for a roller coaster ride at work for a few more weeks before I see things settle down to a stable operating point. In addition to music, I've found prayer, meditation, exercise, and family to be helpful in maintaining my balance and sanity. Hopefully I can maintain that balance well enough that I don't damage the more important things (e.g. relationships) in favor of something less important (my job). Wish me luck!