National Stress Awareness Day is apparently a thing.

As a fan of all things quirky and niche, I was delighted to find that there is a national “Day” for just about everything, from bubble baths to ravioli to talking like a pirate. So National Stress Awareness Day didn’t actually surprise me (though the timing made me chuckle – it’s right after the U.S. election, and I was thinking that maybe they ought to move it forward a day or two).

Regular life: Overwhelmed, overworked, overscheduled, stressed out
Covid life: Freaked out about our jobs/health/family members/state of the world, wondering how long this is going to last

We might have more free time on our hands these days but the net level of stress is probably the same. Knowing it’s there doesn’t mean accepting it, though.

Stress messes you up. It messes with your weight and your hormones and makes you tired as hell. It messes with your sleeping and your dreaming and your thinking. It makes you grumpy and short-tempered and makes you eat or drink or caffeinate too much. It robs the current moment of joy because you’re stuck reliving the past or dreading the future. And it screws with your magic, because that’s one area you really can’t B.S. your way through.

Instead of letting 2020 mess up yet another thing, consider this a great big push of the cosmic Pause button. It’s like getting a gift that you didn’t really want but realize you actually really need (nobody really wants a vacuum cleaner for Christmas, either, but the floors still have to get clean somehow, amiright?)

What does it mean to love and care for yourself right now? It might be working hard to make your world a little bigger because you feel cut off from everyone, or it might mean drawing some limits because being around other people isn’t great for you right now. It might mean taking on a big ambitious project so you feel you’re moving forward. It might mean refusing to get sucked into something new that’ll drain what energy you have. It might mean focusing on your health. It might mean focusing on your family.

Adjust, change, add, or remove whatever you need – trust that your instincts to show you what you need. Take a deep breath. Light a candle. Focus your intention. This unwanted gift of a year is an opportunity to get rid of the emotional and logistical clutter and get back to your magnificent real self.