How to Deal

Hey beautiful friends, sorry I have been MIA for the past few days.  I have had a series of unfortunate events lately that have prevented me from blogging.  Thanks to my wonderful hubby for letting be borrow his laptop to publish this post.  Sorry there are no pictures, but you will understand why in a second.  The other day my lovely cat, Charleigh, with her curious self and her love for water decided to tip over a very large and looming cup of water straight onto my laptop.  After taking the blowdryer to the computer, putting it in a bag with silica gel packs, and leaving it out for 48 hours to dry, my computer is not working properly.  It will turn on and appear to be working fine and then boom the screen gets pixilated and eventually goes black.  Forgive my venting but I have been stressed lately.  My job search is not fruitful in any sense of the word and I'm feeling lost with what my next step is.  Anyways, needless to say I have been stressed out.  

Through my training in counseling I have learned the art of self-care and have tried to practice it on a regular basis.  For me, self-care is essential, necessary.  It is different for every individual and it takes time to find your magic medicine.  Dealing with stress does not come naturally to me, but I have found my ways to help curb the tension and frustration.  Here is my recipe for stress relief: exercise (especially running and stress aerobics), dessert (I know, I know, counter-intuitive to the former), talking it out with my husband (he always has a way of calming me down), and praying (it helps me relinquish control of a situation that I never had control of to begin with).  These are just a few things I need in order to conquer the stress beast.  Even though life is unpredictable and stressful, I know that I can count on these things to make me feel better.  How do you all encourage yourselves through stress?  What is your self-care regimen?