Spring has started to take hold here in Edinburgh, and I’m looking back at what’s been quite an interesting winter. I don’t know how it’s been for everybody who travels for work, but for me at least, I’ve been more mobile with several trips to London, Paris, the Netherlands and even Singapore. There have finally been chances to catch up with some old friends, in both my vanilla and spanking lives and make some new ones, with some interesting adventures along the way.
For now though, I’m back in Edinburgh and it’s springtime. The grass has started to grow, the leaves are coming back on the trees and I swear the sun came out at least once. All good reasons to be cheerful.
On the other hand, life seems generally a little more stressful in this post-pandemic, post-truth, post-affordable-cost-of-living era. People are worried about the economy with banks collapsing and energy prices spiraling. There’s ever increasing geopolitical strife, somehow, we have food shortages, and then there’s the climate crisis. No wonder levels of anxiety have increased globally since the pandemic.
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, and then the things we normally are able to cope with feel like too much. Just last week, I got a message from a young lady who was stressed and might be stuck in an anxiety-procrastination spiral with a scarily close deadline. It’s a perfectly normal reaction.
So what should we do when we feel overwhelmed? If you ask me, and by continuing to read this post, you sort of have, there are two things I recommend. First, it’s important to recognise what’s within your control and what is not. The truth is that we cannot change the things that happen to us or around us. The only thing we can control is how we react to them. Do what you can to make progress in whatever you’re trying to do each day and be proud of your efforts, irrespective of the outcomes.
The second piece of advice is to be kind to yourself. As I said before, it’s springtime, so take a moment to enjoy the days and spend a little time doing whatever relaxes you and takes your mind off all the things that you cannot control. That might be reading a book, it might be going for a run, or it might be the escapism and stress relief that comes with a good spanking.
So, in these times of anxiety, whatever it is that’s stressing you out, take some time to look after yourself and enjoy the springtime.
