The fantabulous Patty (in Dallas) wrote a great post the other day about how the offseason makes her feel all wobbly and unanchored. It got me thinking….
I have a bunch of legitimately stressful things going on right now, namely, I’m moving (but not into my dream lair, into a friend’s house because my landlord is LAME and wouldn’t give me month-to-month), and my job is busy and stressful. So, I’m about to be homeless, and I have no time to pack. Now, this will pass. I will somehow get out of this apartment and my stuff will go somewhere and I won’t be living on the street. Things have a way of working themselves out, especially when you’re willing to throw money at the problem until it goes away (which, I am).
I realized last night that I am uncomfortably stressed out. I’m having a hard time dealing. For the last year or so I’ve enjoyed a good little stretch where I really haven’t been stressed at all, ever. If something annoying was occurring I could pretty much count on keeping a level head, and going all Tim Gunn on myself (“make it wooork”) and coasting through the situation. I have attributed this inner calm to hockey. My theory is that I have been burning through all my unnecessary angst on hockey, leaving my real life relatively unblemished by needless worry.
Take this move for example. Suppose, just for the sake of my argument, Ryan Miller were still unsigned. If Crunchy were holding out, I bet my apartment would be all packed and ready to go right now. With an external (and totally stupid) issue to fret about, I probably would have calmly and deliberately packed this whole place up, with nary a frenzied thought about whether or not I was going to be able to get it all done. I’d just do it. My angst about Crunchy would not only distract me from my real stress, it would propel me through the task. I’d turn on WGR, listen to people freak out, nod in approval or scowl in disgust at the calls, and get this whole damn apartment packed.
I love hockey for providing an outlet for my stress that doesn’t really stress me out. Oh sure, I like to wail and carry on during the hockey season, but come on, that’s just good clean fun. I suppose some might say that worrying about hockey when there are real problems to worry about is dumb, but here’s the thing: for the most part, I think all worrying is dumb. Thinking about a problem, mulling it over and finding a solution is great. Sitting around stressing? Totally dumb. I figure I have a certain amount of “dumb stress” that must be expressed and I’m better off spending it on the Sabres than spending it on real problems. It’s way easier to handle real problems without stress, right?
All I know is that this stress that I am feeling right now? The stress that is causing me to sit down and write a post about stress when I SHOULD BE PACKING?…IS TOTALLY LAME AND UNHELPFUL.
To review:
1. Moving is annoying, especially when you are moving into a temporary situation.
2. Hockey is good for distracting.
3. I can’t believe I just spent 40 minutes writing this post when I could have been packing.
4. After this move I’m going to try to revert back to Buddha-on-the-Mountaintop Katebits. Panicked Katebits is a tool.
I tend to panic about how messy my house is. It makes no sense because even when it’s ay it’s worse, I can get it back together in under 3 hours. So pointless to fret but I do it anyways!
It’s so true! Up until about two weeks ago, I was the calm and cavalier one at my office. Now I’m the one that’s freaking out the most about all the upheaval that’s going on. If I had hockey games to look forward to, I could get some work done.
I have always been a worrier. It’s genetic in my case. It gets worse after you have kids and then it’s all about them. But alot of it seems to taper off when you hit your 40s. See? Something to look forward to!
Kate, we are living the same life! I’m supposed to be packing my apartment so I can move out tomorrow, but instead I’m reading blogs. I am also not moving into my own place, but moving back in with my parents. Temporarily. ONLY TEMPORARILY. REALLY TEMPORARY.
LizzieB, you have my condolences. This totally blows! Poor us!
I hate not having hockey to worry about! Why can’t hockey realize how much the off-season screws with us and change in order to help us — hockey all year round would cure all our worrying ills!
Also, I’m so sorry you’re so stressed; it will all work out soon!
Now I’m worried that your stressed!
Katebits, I can totally relate. This past year was my inaugural year with hockey as well. I found that while I am a huge worrier in general, it has been very helpful to have hockey to fixate on. It’s nice to be all wrapped up in something completely irrelevant so you don’t have time to worry about the real stuff. :)
PS. I hope your move goes well and you find a permanent solution soon. Besides, hockey will be here before we know it. Right? Right?