This week was originally supposed to be super awesome. I had all these wonderful plans in clear focus. I had a few blog posts ready to write. Then, life decided to stress my ability to manage stress. Things started to get out of focus a little more than planned.

What does one do when facing unexpected stress. Not the massive life altering variety. The kind that is thrown on you by your boss, the kind that happens when your children feels it’s the week to wake up on the left side of the bed. The type of stress that happens when your sleeping pattern is thrown off by a child who keeps coughing at night.

Yeah, what happens when the collision between your hobbies and professional life can’t seem to get alone? You have unexpected stress that threatens to throw you completely off balance.

That is my week this week. Ordinarily, I would cut off the “less important” things and buckle down my focus on just what is most urgent. However, that was the story of my life that has lead me to have the results I have today. I don’t like being out of the picture frame of what I’m doing. Sure, it’s cool in the moment, or so I tell myself. But I am not taking care of me when I leave myself out of focus.

The old lens I had was built to make sure I took care of everyone else. I made sure the parents were happy, the professors were happy, the boss… happy. Then, I’d crash from being stressed out and used a vacation day to either sleep or de-stress.

I don’t particularly care for that style anymore. Especially now. I have to balance work with life. I can’t stop being a dad. I can’t stop being a husband. I can’t stop being a son. I can’t stop being an employee. But I can stop caring for myself, I can stop working on my blog. I can stop… no! I’m not doing it that way anymore.

That’s the thing when one realize self-care is important. You can’t keep putting yourself last. I’m not saying you have to put yourself first always and at all cost. No, that defeats the purpose of a balance. In balance, it’s all about how you anticipate and respond to unexpected stresses.

Ordinarily, I would skip this week’s blog post so I can better focus on dealing with the unexpected stress. However, that builds the habit of quitting and that won’t work for me in the big picture plans I want. So… a back up plan it is. I’m still working on the epic post that was for today. It is written, just not suitably edited… can’t give you all crap to read

That’s the thing about life, it will always throw you the unexpected. It is how you handle it that makes all the difference in the world. If you push to the razor’s edge while stressed, you’re bound to make errors and get cut. However, when you anticipate some of the stress and you can adjust, you leave yourself some breathing room to keep being effective and efficient in the long run.

In the coming post, I will look how unexpected stress mixed with fatigue can really ruin your relationships. Much like this post is trying to say… unexpected stress can ruin plans and schedules… but only if you let it do so.

Flexibility is the key to all things unexpected. Adaptability is the key to all things unexpected. Until we meet again with the promised epic post, keep adjusting and balancing while keeping your end in clear focus through your sights.

P.S. the events happening close to where I’m typing this post… is heart breaking… by the time I share this, most will have seen on the news… so I won’t add to the buzz. Just grateful. Very grateful. Life happens fast, keeping the victims in prayer