By lamplight

I'm not sure why, but this week has been a big stress-out all round. I could feel tension building in my head and hands a bit more each day, until the evening when the machine really didn't want to work and I lost it completely. Fortunately the people who caught the wrong side of my tongue are good natured for the most part and accepted my apologies later on, but the tension was still there the next morning.

Tea has been the order of the day, in light of the fact that it can help to de-stress; or at least not make it worse. While I do love to drink a good cup of proper coffee, it doesn't have the same relaxing effect in general.

I used rescue remedy a couple of times too. I keep it in my bag, and usually use it when I feel panicky. I'd forgotten that it can help reduce stress and tension too. How the week could have been easier if I'd thought to use it before!

Lavender and ylang ylang essential oils have been in my night-time oil burner, to help with getting to sleep and try to get rid of some of the tension whilst still asleep, it did work to a point I have to say; although not as well as I could have hoped. I think I'll be researching essential oils a bit more to find a good stress relief one to add to the mix or change things around a bit.

Right now, while I'm typing I'm burning a "stress relief" insense stick, containing lavender, orange blossom and thyme. I'm not totally sure as to whether it has the essential oils or not, but hey. Smells fairly pleasant though, to be honest, and it's the safest thing downstairs - the stick burns in an enclosed box - as my "other" oil burners have open flames and the cats constantly risk burned tails if I'm not actively watching them and the burner - and I'm obviously not looking closely enough while typing to protect them against injury.

Thinking about the cats, I believe they've probably picked up on how I'm feeling as they've spent a fair bit of time bickering together and haven't been eating as much as usual, and when their eating drops off I always worry a bit. Oliver is currently sitting on the back of the futon blinking at the lamp and toasting gently near the heater. As to Jewel, she could be anywhere indoors or out right now. She is the more adventurous cat, as well as being younger.

Anyway. It's Thursday night, or more correctly, Friday morning, and I'm not back at work until Tuesday afternoon, so I have four whole days to rest and relax and generally enjoy myself, so that's what I plan to do, in the company of good friends and good books, and I'll tell you all about it next week!