european adventure + keeping cool in the chaos

well it has been quite a week (re: no blog posts). the husband was offered a job in germany on monday, and was on a plane by tuesday night. now I am running around like a crazy woman trying to get everything in order so that Sloane and I can get over there as soon as possible. we are so ecstatic about our newest hockey adventure overseas, especially since we know how much fun we had during our two years in switzerland. of course the move causes some mixed emotions leaving family and friends, but we will be back in no time. I believe this is such an amazing experience for our family.

despite the craziness I am still trying to maintain some sort of balance. I knew I needed a good workout today so I had mima (aka. grandma) and papa help me out by looking after the wee one. it was a great workout and I can honestly say that leaving my stress at the gym made me feel able to cope with what has to be done in the coming week.

in addition to keeping a running to-do-list that helps me prioritize what needs to get done here are my top 5 ways to cope with stress … 

• drink more of the good stuff –  lots of pure filtered water, naturally decaffeinated tea’s, green juices + smoothies.
• eat consistent meals + snacks - yes, this is much harder to do when you are constantly on the go but it is nearly impossible to get through each day if you have no energy! avoid mid afternoon slumps by maintaining blood sugar levels throughout the day by eating whole foods.
• sweat – working out is proven to reduce stress, encourage those feel good endorphins to work their magic + burn calories. even if it’s for 20 minutes some movement is better than no movement at all.
• deep breathing – decrease stress levels and keep perspective by taking deep belly breaths. it’s far too easy to get worked up when under stress and use shallow breathing throughout your day. I like to take 2 or 3 minutes at a time to close my eyes and focus on breathing. it  really helps me to chill out and re-group.
• sleep – even when it feels like there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done I try to get at least 6-8 hours of sleep. okay, let’s be honest…I love sleep. still this can be hard when you have a lot on your plate. when I’m sleeping properly I don’t get stressed out as easily.

I feel like this has been a good mantra over the last couple of days….

amen

what do you do to keep balance in your life when chaos ensues? I would love to know.

wishing you a fabulous weekend friends.

now back to the {growing} to-do-list…..

PS. for those of you within driving distance of Stratford (Ontario), I would highly recommend you plan to attend our local culinary event this weekend. Savour Stratford is simply amazing and this year is supposed to be even bigger and better than ever!