Life's stress

     Wow, it's been busy around here lately.  Do you ever find yourself with too many things to do and not enough time?  If you are a parent, homeowner, spouse, employee, business owner or a human you just answered that question with a resounding YES!  For me personally I'm busy getting new clients, working with old clients, being a dad and husband, and trying mentally to prepare myself for what's to come - Holidays!  Last night I forced my wife to accompany me to the fair so I could hear a couple bands I like but to be honest I wanted the food. It was a night away from chaos, home repairs, and a teenage daughter (whom I love dearly).
     As I had ACE Chimney here this morning inspecting my chimney and fireplace I thought what are some stressful things.  Here are my top 4.

1. Parenting - whether you have a newborn, toddler, teen or adult I'm pretty sure this ranks up there as high stress.  Each new phase of life brings with it new stressors and as I realized with a teen-aged driver those stressors go up with each developmental milestone.
2. Marriage - This can one of two ways. I am blessed to not have a stress-filled marriage but many people do. I'll rank this as the #2 most stressful situation but ONLY if you marry the wrong person. Marriage was formed to be a blessing but as many of you know often times it's the opposite. Want a great marriage - put the other first!
3. Home ownership - It never ENDS!  As I mentioned today we had a chimney company come and inspect our chimney/fireplace because I have no idea if it worked and I have no interest in burning down our new home. Yeah - it works fine and now is clean (or I guess as clean as a chimney can be - I did not do the white glove test on it).  Home ownership is full of chores, projects, honey-do lists, caulking, plumbing, hanging lights, cleaning out garages, washing windows, installing windows, vacuuming, pressure-washing, landscaping, mowing, etc, etc, etc... Sometimes it be downright aggravating and exhausting.
4. Finances - The number one reason for divorce usually is due to finances or at least tied to it.  I could probably write a book how finances tie into the first 3 of these life positions because it really does seep into all facets of our life.  Unless you live South of Broad you are probably not born into a huge supply of money and therefore you are forced to live within the restraints of your budget/checking account.  (I think I'll do my next post on real estate finances - exciting stuff).

There you have it.  Right before the holidays I give you life's greatest stressors.  I hope that as Thanksgiving and Christmas approach (remember - these are times of reflection and periods in our life to reflect on the positive) you and I can re-focus and see the positive.  It's there but sometimes you have to be creative to find it.

-Jason