dealing with Stress

Gonna bring it up again, there are a number of medical reasons your BP can be spiking. Those reasons can kill you. We see a lot of very stressed out folks at our hospital. From my experience, those with 200+ systolic have more than stress going on. Go see your doc.

My doc is on vacation and will be back this week. Thankfully that 205 was only a spike. Every other time I have had my BP checked, it was in the 150s to 160.

To give you an idea on the people that give me high BP.. last night we had Sara McLaughlin in.. I was running the house light console and the guy was supposed to be the deck electrician.

Now I am -not- supposed to leave that house light position during the show. If there is an emergency, I need to be there to bring the lights up at a moment's notice. The Deck Electrician is also supposed to on stage (hence the term "deck") but I did not see him until the last 15 minutes of the show when he just sorta appeared

I gotta say, man... you're making me glad I didn't pursue stage work 25+ years ago...

mad_machine wrote: To give you an idea on the people that give me high BP.. last night we had Sara McLaughlin in..

Oh God, did she spend all night shaking you down for money for abused animals? I love animals but that would send my BP through the roof after a while, too.

Seriously, it sounds like you've done one of the hardest parts of combatting stress, which is identifying very specific triggers and effectors. Lots of people go through life wound into knots with no idea why. Small victory, maybe, but you have that going for you.

Next step is to go back through this thread. Pretty much every piece of advice was a good one. While you're reading, also realize that this is three pages of advice from people who care about you, even if many of them have never met you face to face.

Good luck man. It sounds like you're on your way to a good path.

You can't fix everything, trains have run a long time and they still wreck. Some people would rather wreck than avoid it.

Happy to report... been practicing my meditation and doing what I can to alleviate my stress.. Nurse at work checked my BP today.. 138 over 72.. so it is coming down. Now I just need to wait till the end of the week when my Doctor comes back from vacation

mad_machine wrote: So short of quitting.. any clues how to handle this without breaking a line and going home dead?

1. Get into RX-7.
2. Start RX-7. Listen to engine make lots of happy noises. (My avatar IS the porting template you should use) Justify frequent throttle-blipping as necessary to keep the plugs clear in stop-and-go traffic.
3. When on highway and engine noises smooth out to a dull shriek, turn on stereo and see if you can hear J-pop/techno type stuff over the gear whine and wind noise.

Works for me every. single. time.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: Because when your ass is pushing daisies the show will still go on without you. Remember that.

That is one of my core philosophies. There are fifty million businesses out there that are running without me (or you) and doing just fine. Any given person is 100% replaceable. The key is to work hard so that replacing you isn't a good option... but at the same time, you can easily be replaced so your company/whatever will go on if you have to take off for personal reasons. Nobody is ever the ONLY person who can do a given job so don't feel like every responsibility has to be yours.

JG Pasterjak wrote: Something else that helps me a lot is this Fight Club I joined. It's really fun. There were some rules you have to follow but I showed up late and missed them. I'm sure they weren't important.

The first rule is, you tell your friends. The second rule is, you tell your friends. The third rule is, if a red flag is thrown, the run is over. The fourth rule is, only two people in a car. Fifth rule, 2 seconds per cone and ten seconds for a missed gate. Sixth rule, Snell helmet, windows up. Seventh rule, runs will go on for as long as they have to. And the eighth and final rule, if you are not running, you have to work.

Oh, wait, I had this confused with RallyCross Club. Nevermind...

Knurled wrote:

mad_machine wrote: So short of quitting.. any clues how to handle this without breaking a line and going home dead?

1. Get into RX-7. 2. Start RX-7. Listen to engine make lots of happy noises. (My avatar IS the porting template you should use) Justify frequent throttle-blipping as necessary to keep the plugs clear in stop-and-go traffic. 3. When on highway and engine noises smooth out to a dull shriek, turn on stereo and see if you can hear J-pop/techno type stuff over the gear whine and wind noise. Works for me every. single. time.

Until it craps out the apex seals. Then its back to 210/160.