I've been running for so long, I don't know what to do with myself when I don't have a jam-packed schedule or syllabus in front of me. And, while everyone around me is telling me to take advantage of the moment and relax, I'm afraid I've forgotten how. Even with the time, wide open and free, I find ways to fill it and usually feel busy -- even if, at the end of the day, I don't feel like I've accomplished much.

Now, I'm starting to wonder if I'm creating ...

O.K., while typing this I was interrupted by a thirty minute phone call, which I had to summarize for an editor I'm working with on an investigative stimulus project watchdog assignment. Sigh. What was I saying?

Right. Relax. Umhum.

So. Sometimes I wonder if I'm creating my reality by continually saying, "I'm busy. I'm soooo busy. I'm crazy busy. Busy, busy, busy."

You know, the idea that our thoughts create our destiny.

Maybe I should start saying these things instead:

I'm organized.

I'm relaxed.

Sources call me back on my schedule.

Yea, right!

It's no wonder that I feel scattered, huh? If I'm being real (and I'd like to think I always am), I need to admit that I'm still running and still being yanked in different directions by several projects all at once. No wonder I can't get my to-do list ticked off in a reasonable amount of time and my planner has a spider web on the clasp.

Perhaps the real key to my delimma is this: I need to simply stop being so hard on myself, take more deep breaths and just do my best in any given moment (I also like to think I'm also on top of that task).

New mantra:

Breathe.

What about you? How do you handle stress and a crowded to-do list?