Kelly: This morning sis and I had somewhat of an interesting conversation. We were talking about really really stressful situations and what we did to get over them. Our responses were typical; we did the usual "short term" relief efforts to combat our stress. Here's what I mean.
Last year when I was in the PACU (post-anesthesia care unit) after watching a patient go through a seemingly routine surgery, her BP shot through the roof. This was related to several factors, but anyway it escalated pretty quickly. I noticed that the nurse kept IV pushing two medications that I had never heard of. I later learned that they were anti-hypertensives but were very short acting. So every few minutes the nurse would have to give just a little bit more. While this was going on, I was thinking "well shouldn't somebody be trying to figure out what the problem is or look for a more long term solution?" Eventually they did and the patient was transported to intensive care.
"Wow! Great story Kelly! Now what in the heck are you talking about?" Well I'm getting there. In a crisis situation, when you feel like there's no way out, often times we turn to short term solutions just to temporarily take the edge off. People do this in many ways; post about it on Facebook browse a few recipes on Pinterest, or turn to more harmful measures such as drinking or smoking. And sure, those measures make us feel good and block out the world for a bit, but the minute you turn off the web browser, or put that bottle down or put that butt out, what you were trying to avoid is still right where you left it. It didn't go away, so we keep going back to those temporary measures. But like the patient I saw, until a long-term solution was reached, the nurse was going to have to keep pushing those medications. So here's a challenge for you all (and for me as well), instead of seeking temporary relief when stressful times hit, look into the root of the problem and come up with a long-term solution. That way, you won't have to be standing over yourself self-administering that temporary fix.
Holly: Ugh....now that I'm older I am so over these "quick fixes" to life situations. My philosophy is if it ain't a permanent solution then I'm not even going to waste my time! I used to be a horrible procrastinator. Still am, I suppose. But while I was busy all aboard the procrastination express, I had the mindset of "Oh, well, God will provide this and that, etc." Which is VERY true. I'm not mean to be sacrilegious. But yesterday Kelly and I were doing our LoTR devotional and a topic similar to this one came up, and it dawned on me: Yes, God DOES provide, and He is faithful, but sometimes He might want us to change something about our lifestyle, a nasty habit we have, etc.
Think about it this way: Say you have a monster deadline/paper/project/major life stressor due in a short amount of time. You've known about it for a while now, but now it's getting down to the wire and you realize you've barely put a dent in it. As that time you thought you had so much of comes to a halt, you remember your thinking something along the lines of "Oh, I've got time, it'll get done, I'll finish it..." (Sounding a little familiar yet??????)
When you say you want to stop procrastinating, or stressing yourself out, or whatever you need to fix, say the words and PUT ACTIONS behind them. With me, I combated my procrastination by doing my work, REALLY DOING my work, DISCIPLINING myself to do my work, and I set a goal. If I reached that goal, I would spend 15 minutes or so indulging in mindless internet culture. After my 15 minutes (I timed myself...seriously!!!!), it was back to work. Ask Kelly what she does. Seriously. She is ON TOP of her game this semester, y'all!
One more piece of advice: if you KNOW of something coming up that you have to do, take the necessary steps to prepare it. If you're a slow reader, start your reading earlier. If you have a paper due in two weeks, write a little bit every day, even if it's just a paragraph or two. Be diligent with your time and LIMIT yourself if you have to (Which, let's face it....YOU DO!!!!!!!!!!!!). If you just do a little bit of planning, preparation, and extra work and initiative, then you will avoid crisis modes for a long time to come.
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