SquarePeg Books

I’m going to try and start dating these things in the title. I should’ve a while back, but, you know.

Effort.

Anyhooo…

September was stressful. More than it had any right to be, thank you very much. So much so it brought up fun other potential side effects of mental illness.

Physical Manifestation.

No, this isn’t a Ghost Harassers show reference.

Were you aware that you stress is capable of creating so much more than muscle tension, upset stomach, insomnia, and headaches?

I also get skin conditions, specifically dyshidrotic eczema. It can be confused with a type of athlete’s foot.

It’s itchy. It can be painful. It appears on the hands and feet, little teeny blisters that itch and can sometimes hurt. Sometimes there is scaling and thickening of the skin in the blistery spots. A GP even mistook it for a particularly resistant form of athlete’s foot when the prescription meds didn’t work; and the dermatologist diagnosed it in 20 seconds.

“Mostly it’s caused by stress,” he said. “So the best treatment is to be less stressed.”

Okay…aside from abandoning my entire life and going off grid in such a way that not even my children can find me, how do you propose I be “less stressed?”

It’s the usual list. Meditate. Work/life balance. Exercise. Journaling. A nightly relaxing bedtime routine.

Am I the only one who is not able to stuff any of this into the day because I am beginning everyday absolutely wiped out from yesterday, but still have to find the oomph to adult today because bills, and kids and errands and emergencies and such?

He gave me a steroid cream. I did some research and learned if I feel my feet itching and nothing relieves it, I can use a good skin cream and put socks on, and that should help stop an outbreak, if I catch it early enough.

But reducing stress doesn’t seem to be in the cards any time soon.