Road Rage
So picture this. It is the second day of school for my daughter. She is attending pre-K at the local elementary school and I had taken the first day off so we could all go as a family. Since I get off work fairly early I wanted to pick her up after school to hear all about her day. So this is the first time I get to do this and I’m anxious about being late. As fate would have it, traffic is heavy on the way to the highway. In front of me is a guy in a new Mercedes talking on his cell phone. The temp tag is laying on the back window of the car, illegible. He keeps sitting there in the stop and go traffic, only moving up long after everyone else has. It is frustrating me, but since traffic is moving at all of 25 mph it’s not like he is holding me back. We finally make it to the on ramp and he is still dawdling up the hill (and gabbing on his cell phone). Apparently he felt I was tailgating him so he brake checks me. At this point, I’m thinking “Fine, just get on the highway and I’ll pass you later.” I take my foot off of the accelerator and wait for him to move on, but he has a different idea. Read more »
Posted: August 7th, 2008 under Stress.
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I have always been a dork. It has taken years for me to realize this, but unfortunately it is true. As much as I’d like to be as cool and debonair as James Bond, there will always be that sliver of dorkiness in me that prevents a complete transformation. So then it should come as no shock that for a period of years I enjoyed dressing up in medieval garb and beating on other like-minded fools with padded PVC swords and spears. Truthfully, it was very fun and it had a profound impact on my life, but that is a discussion for a different post. Suffice it to say that for many years, you could find me at a city park on Saturday afternoon engaging in mock battles with 50 or 100 others. It was quite a spectacle (if you want to see what it is about, check out 
My favorite scene in the Wayne’s World movie is the part where Garth is working along on some kind of mechanical arm. Rob Lowe walks up to Garth and asks “How do you feel about change?”
My greatest struggle in dealing with stress is all in my head. I have a significant disconnect between my emotional self and my rational self and frankly I’m not sure what to do about it. In a nutshell, I know that at some point the stress will go away. Very few things in life could cause stress for the rest of your life, so what you are going through will end eventually. Job loss, missed deadlines on a project, and arguments with friends or family, all are eventually taken care of one way or another. I know this, and my brain knows this, but my heart does not. 
A while back my daughter had her first loose tooth. Every one was very excited as we took turns wiggling it back and forth. I made the obligatory joke about tying a string to it and a door knob but, of course, Hope would have none of that. As time went on, the tooth got looser and soon it became obvious that it would fall out in a day or two at the most. A funny thing happened to my wife and I. We both felt uneasy and a little bit of stress from it. It was funny because we were sitting at the dinner table when Hope really gave it a good wiggle and Amy and I looked at each other. Unspoken words passed between us as we both immediately felt the same thing. But why?