Feeling stressed...

Ouch!!!

My tooth has been hurting for nearly five days now.  I never have tooth pain.  In fact, I just had a recent dental cleaning and check-up and received a glowing report.  What's the deal?!?  On day four, I finally decided to call the dentist to check the tooth.

A strange thing happened after I scheduled the exam - the tooth started to feel better.  What?

I am no doctor (or dentist) but I do like to self-diagnose problems I may be experiencing. I am a believer that once I know what the problem is, I can start working to find a solution to the problem.  So, I do some research to figure out what is at the root of the problem.  In this case, the problem was so apparent that if it were a 17 and a half foot Burmese python, it would have swallowed me whole.

My ACE personal trainer exam is coming up on Thursday.  I have been studying for nine months for this test.  I know the material for the most part, but anything can happen with 150 questions in a three hour period.  The test is proctored.  This means I can take nothing in to the exam - I don't get my own pencil or paper, tissues to wipe the sweat off my brow, nothing. The flip side of this is that I will know as soon as I am done how I scored. I really want to pass.  The last thing I want to do is re-take the exam and go through this again.

Well, at this point, I am feeling stressed and I know that it is affecting my body.  The toothache is telling me so.  There are ways to manage this stress.  A few things that I have done to alleviate the stress are scheduling my study time with no exceptions.  If it's in the calendar, I need to stick to it, treat the study time like it's client time.  Second, schedule down time.  It's good to take breaks, too.  There is such a thing as too much studying, in my opinion.  I like to take a half hour here and there to unwind by watching my favorite tv show or having dinner with my fiance.  Then, there's always the fitness aspect to de-stressing.  Go run 16 miles!  That is a sure fire way to clear your head.  And if you can't run 16 miles, try going for a walk.  Getting out in nature is a great way to find your center and reset your stress meter.

That's all for now - until after the exam.