Monday, June 2, 2014

Week 3 of the less stress project: It's a metaphor.

This week was like any other, really- running from school to work to activities, fitting in the rest as well as possible.  Some things in my control, others not so much.

One big (and unfortunately continuous stress) in our lives is renovations.  We have had a bunch of work done on our home, unfortunately some of it hasn't turned out too well, so we are often chasing down contractors, waiting for trades, and bleeding out cash to fix things we have already paid to fix.  It can be really frustrating, and is one of those things that falls into the "out of our control" column, which further adds to that frustration.



This past week, we enjoyed a restful rainy day at our new cottage, only to discover a major roof leak from a deck to a sunroom below.  Now, if you have been around awhile you know that we have this ongoing issue with water- our original cottage was destroyed in a flood, our current home has ongoing roof leaking issues (even though we "fix" it every year!), our basement has flooded, and so on.  Perhaps the result of an Aquarius marrying a Pisces?  Regardless, a big PITA.  So we were NOT excited to find this new issue at our place of relaxation. We went about having a quote to fix it and were stunned by the $16.5K price tag.  Seriously?!?!  

So this brings me to the title of this post- it's a metaphor.  Have you read "The Fault in our Stars" by John Green?  The movie is actually coming out this week as well.  It is about a teenage girl,  Hazel, diagnosed with terminal cancer, who meets Augustus, an osteosarcoma survivor with an amputated leg, at a Teen Cancer Support Group.  On their first encounter, she is kind of enamoured with him- until he pops a cigarette in his mouth.  "Are you SERIOUS?!?" Hazel asks, and proceeds to tell him that he just ruined everything and how ridiculous it was for a cancer survivor to be a smoker.  Augustus explains that the cigarette is a metaphor- he puts the killing thing between his lips, but doesn't light it, thereby taking away its ability to do the killing.



This passage reminded me somewhat of my Less Stress Project.  Stress will always be around, like cancer, and ready to do its damage.  It is up to me to take away its power over me.

So the leaky roof is an annoyance,  for sure, but need not be a STRESS.  It's a first world problem- poor me and my drippy second home.  No one is dying or bleeding here.  We will deal with it.  We will get another quote.  It was probably doing this before we bought it and so it is not an emergency.  I will use my energy in a positive way to work towards a solution to this problem, rather than lamenting it.

Small battles won this week on the stress front.  

Now if I could only figure out how to stop my kids from pushing my buttons.....they drove me freaking mental this week : /

8 comments:

Unknown said...

I like this post a lot! If we lived closer I would send the Significant Other over to check out your roof. Unfortunately, NYS and Canada represents more than a little travel!
It's good that you have this ability to put things in perspective. You are well on your way to Serenity, Grasshopper!! And as for the children - there's a HUGE roar in a quiet head - one that you will miss tremendously when they leave the nest!!!!

Shay said...

Love your take on stress Kristie. Those things out of our control need to be put on the back burner and not worried about. I like to ask myself – Will this matter in a years time when Im stressing about things. Help me keep stuff in perspective (although 16 grand for a roof fixit job is a little hard to take !)

No advice on the kid thing - unless you want to practice temporary deafness a lot.

Darcy said...

I love love love this. Yes to putting things in perspective and YES, my kid has been making me nuts too - what's up with them?! It's not even time for the full moon yet...

Katy Cameron said...

It's hard to take deep breaths and deal with things, but I think I've been doing better at work since I came back from Market, so your influence must be spreading! Alas, your kids' influence appears to be affecting my team, can't win 'em all...

Chez Roo said...

I'm really enjoy.ing your less stress posts, Kristie - entertaining as always, but inspirational too!

Unknown said...

Yikes! Roofing problems do tend to sneak up on us when we least expect them, especially stuff that deals with leakage. It's paramount to ensure that you get a roof that is your money's worth, far as resiliency is concerned. All the best!

Fredda Dangelo @ Accurate Roofing and Siding

Terence Warner said...

You can’t blame the stars for the faults in your roof, Kristie. Haha! You’re right to use your energy for positive things, instead of sulking over these pet peeves. Don’t let the pesky roof gets the best of you, rather fix it to take away its “ability” to aggravate you. Make it a metaphor, just like what Augustus did with the cigarette in the book. Okay? Okay.

Terence Warner @ Brunwin Roofing

Mathew Robinson said...

Find your inner peace, Kristie! You’re absolutely right about your epiphany. While a leaky roof is an annoyance, it’s not the stress itself but an outside stimulus that causes it. Now it’s all up to you how far you would let that annoyance bother you. I hope you won’t let it get the best of you.

Mathew Robinson @ Browns Roofing Company LLC