Even Good Stress Is Still Stress

They say even good stress is still stress. You know those checklists you can use to evaluate the level of stress currently in your life? They include such things as

-death of a loved one
-loss of job
-divorce
-addiction
-illness
-unfavorable weather

However, these lists of common life stressors also include events we would normally consider positive including

-engagement
-marriage
-Christmas
-a job interview
-a new baby

One such positive life stressor on nearly every list is moving. I am beginning to understand why. As you know, we've had this goal to relocate to Salt Lake City for at least the past year, and we've been considering it even longer than that. This dream is well on its way to becoming reality. I should be overjoyed. And I am. In so many ways, I am! As I write this post, I am in Salt Lake City, lying on the couch in Shulamith's apartment. Emotionally, I'm already living here, even though I'll need to return to Billings this weekend. Indeed, I'm thrilled that this long-anticipated move is just about here.

Still, even good stress is still stress, and I'm definitely feeling it. Our first hurdle was selling our home in Billings. That process happened quickly for sure though not without its glitches. They are too boring to list, but each one felt overwhelming at the time. By the time we finally closed (a week late), my emotions were pretty much trashed, and the only thing I will say about that is at least it's over.

The next step was finding a house to buy here. I'm not sure which I dislike more, being the seller or being the buyer in a real estate sale. You could not pay me enough to be a real estate agent. Seriously Ginny and Susan, I don't know how you do it. The entire process is one stressful step after another. First you have to figure out financing. Then you have to find the right house. Then there's the whole price negotiation...which feels like a total guessing game filled with absolute uncertainty. And once you have a contract, there are still so many things that can go wrong before closing.

We're not quite to that point, but almost! At the moment, we have responded to our sellers' counter offer with a second counter offer, one which we very much hope they'll accept. They have until 5:00 p.m. tomorrow to respond. Ahh, more lovely waiting. Meanwhile, we (well, mostly Shulamith and I) dream of our perfect house, the one we finally found after looking at what feels like dozens of potential homes but was probably about 20. Our plan has been to find a house that included a smaller apartment, so Shulamith and Matt could live there with us but still have their privacy. I was surprised by how many homes actually have apartments; as I said, we saw many. But not until we found this particular house did we find absolutely everything on our list of "wants." I'm still in shock that a home so perfect for our needs actually exists in our price range.

Stress? Yes! We really want this house. We drove by it again this afternoon which only made us want it more. Matt continues to remind us of all the things that could go wrong. We're trying to be calm and not overly hopeful, but it's hard. If everything were go to smoothly, we could close by July 14th. That's less than a month away! Then again, when does everything go smoothly in a real estate transaction?

Okay, so there's the story up till now. Even good stress is still stress. What do you think is the best way to minimize stress and maintain mental, physical, and emotional health in the midst of so much uncertainty?

YES!!! YOU'RE RIGHT! The answer is a Broadway play. So that's exactly what we're going to do. Tomorrow night, at this exact time, Shulamith and I will be at the Capitol Theatre in downtown Salt Lake City watching the amazing production of "Mamma Mia." And for a couple hours, we will not worry about a single thing. We will bask in the incredible music of Abba. We will laugh. We will cry. Well, at least I will cry. I can't listen to "Slippin' Through My Fingers" without crying. Maybe Shulamith won't cry.

And perhaps by then, we'll have a contract on our dream house. Here's hopin'.