Stress? What stress?

Sometimes stress can just creep the fuck up on you (kind of like the cat that is currently licking the back of my head and tickling me with her tail).  Last week I went to a new chiropractor and we started talking about stress and I said something like, "I don't have anything to be stressed out about right now, life is good."  Three days later an old lady accosted me on the street to criticize my parenting and I wound up yelling at her and bawling on a bench with a confused three year old.  Later that same day I was trying to work on a research paper and I started hyperventilating.  Naah, I ain't got nothin' stressin' me.

So what the hell is wrong with me that after 34 years I still get surprised by my stress?  So here's the run down: My kid just started school, it's only in the afternoons so while I do get 4 hours a day out of it, my weekdays consist of keeping the mornings interesting for the both of us, scrambling to feed her lunch and get her to school on time and then seeing how much productivity I can cram into the next 4 hours (minus travel time). And let me tell you I need those four hours.  Graduation is looming and I'm under a deadline to write my research paper, while at the same time seeing three clients, taking 4 hours of classes a week, cooking, shopping, trying not to let my house become a contender for "How Clean is Your House?" and all the while waiting to go under the knife to get my hooha cut.

Stress? What stress, life is good.  I have this blind spot that keeps me from acknowledging that life can be good and still be stressful.  So I sit here and I wonder why do I keep craving pastries and chocolate?  Why does my back hurt so much?  Why am I watching so much damn TV? And where the fuck is that cup of tea I  ordered?!!

Fine, I accept it.  I am stressed.  But one cup of tea, some screaming along with Rage Against the Machine and a self-indulgent blog post later, and I'm starting to feel a little relief.