Stress test. LOL stress has nothing on this

       Stress, everyone has it in their lives, some more than others. We all have different ways to combat stress, some healthy some not. I choose a nice mix or working out, surfing, and drinking good beer lol. Stress causes many negative affects on the body, from increased blood pressure to belly fat. Of course so does beer drinking haha.  I couldn't wait to get back from deployment to calm down, lower my stress and kind of relax until the next go around. HA!!!!! fooled you!  A part of me actually wants to roll out again, I am more stressed out than I have ever been.
      Work, school and family life. The common issues everyone faces. Being so undermanned in my office has many of us in uniform burning the candle at both ends. Even more so is the fact I took on the role of acting superintendent in March due to the deployment of the current boss. A role I could not wait to embrace, that is until I realized I am losing precious time learning my actual job, the one that is ultimately gonna pay the bills some day. Employers wont care that I was a super, they will care however, that I am good at my job. SO I took the initiative and asked for more contracting work. Yeah good on me right? wrong lol
       Now I am underwater and can;t reach the surface. 6 OPR's/EPR's, quarterly award 1206's for the unit, a change of command to put together, a dozen additional duties, and battling hard headed civilians that constantly threaten my military because they have both military duties and work related duties. In addition add 8 contracts to that 3 of which are brand new and are super important to me because this is the step in which I need to learn the most. So my days begin at 0545, and end about 1030pm. Now that Brandy is finally working, I take both kids to school, work all day squeeze in PT, and balance military with work life, come home spend time with fam, catch up on house duty, get everyone off to bed then work on my MBA.  To think, deployment would be a slowdown for me lol

A month or so back at a dr visit, my blood pressure and heart rate where through the roof. I knew i needed to change something. I increased my frequency at the gym the best I could, rode the bike and ran more and added some ergobolic to the mix, ErgoBolic is a product that controls Cortisol, the hormone that is released during stressful time aka anytime that I am awake !  Just a quick copy and paste on the negatives of Cortisol

• Impaired cognitive performance
• Suppressed thyroid function
• Blood sugar imbalances such as hyperglycemia
• Decreased bone density
• Decrease in muscle tissue
• Higher blood pressure
• Lowered immunity and inflammatory responses in the body, slowed wound healing, and other health consequences
• Increased abdominal fat, which is associated with a greater amount of health problems than fat deposited in other areas of the body. Some of the health problems associated with increased stomach fat are heart attacks, strokes, the development of metabolic syndrome, higher levels of “bad” cholesterol (LDL) and lower levels of “good” cholesterol (HDL), which can lead to other health problems!

4 weeks later my BP is back to 117/75 and my  resting heart rate was 53 bpm.  Time management has been key, working out and realizing that I cannot do everything at once so something will just have to wait was the biggest thing.

Typical replies will to suck it up and quit being a baby, and I have. You gotta realize that no one really cares about anothers problems but you, and you just have to suck it up. So I am finding new ways to battle stress, press forward and let life handle its own, in the mean time I know I am doing everything I can to keep my health and try to keep a positive outlook in life, even if I have to go it alone.