stress.

So this week has been a whirlwind of emotions! First off, Sunday with the AWP Bridal Show (pictures to come) was fabulous and I really pleased with how the vignette turned out. I was also very touched that my mom, her best friend and my boyfriend came out to see it for 2 hours and then when I got home I realized JP had cleaned up my entire apartment

 [i'm a lucky girl :)]

But disaster hit Monday morning with a huge migraine. I've never had a migraine before so I just thought I was having a bad headache and ignored it. But when I was telling my roommates later that night that my vision was going in-and-out and that all I wanted to do was sleep, they informed me that I was indeed having a migraine. I thought it was just because of my gardenia candle I had lit in my room the night before so I took 'Excedrin for migraines' and Mary took my candle even though I warned her of the after-smell. Unfortunately the migraine continued and Wednesday I finally went to the doctor. I found out I have TMJ (Temporomandibular joint disorder) which is caused by stress and tightening your jaw muscles. The doctor gave me a painkillers and a flu shot which made me pass out. [scary.]  So like any good daughter I called my parents sobbing asking them to come pick me up and take me home, and they did :) 

My family has been going to see a kinesiologist and chiropractor in Gainesville since we moved to Atlanta. He also told me that what I have is due to stress and is going to work on getting my jaw back to normal on Monday. But he also gave me a stress relieving technique which I'm going to share :)

Stress Relief Technique from Dr. Winner

1.) Think of 2 statements, one that brings positive emotion (eg-its sunny out) and one that brings negative (eg-I have a test in an hour). 

2.) When you think of the negative statement where do you feel it in your body?  

3.) Take that hurt in that place in your body and visually cut/tear/rip whatever you need to do to get rid of it. Also see God put his hand over it. 

4.) Now think of the negative statement again and see if it causes any  ache in your body. Compare it with the positive statement. If you still feel the ache repeat the process until it's no longer there.

It sounds crazy but it really does work! I have to admit being home with mom and dad has definitely relaxed me, as well as take long hot baths and repeating this technique. You forget how important it is to take time out of the day to do nothing and just sit especially with a hectic schedule. But I'm vowing to myself now to start taking more baths, exercising more [just signed up for The Color Run!!!] and practicing this stress relief technique!