Imagine my horror on Tuesday morning when I discovered my wallet on the roof of my car. Luckily my commute is short so the wallet was still there when I arrived at work. I thought, “Man, where is my head today?” as I walked to the Plaza to get coffee. I promptly bought and paid for my daily cup, quickly exiting the shop to hustle back for my busy day. I got about four steps out the door and realized, uh, where’s the coffee? In my haste I had forgotten to put anything in the cup. As I sheepishly turned around to go back inside I made a silent pledge to myself to sloooooooow down and keep my head on straight for the rest of the day.
As our cover this week indicates, school is back in session for most Sonoma Valley students. I believe my muddled head was the result of all that comes with getting two children ready for that first day back in the classroom. When the wallet incident occurred I had just admonished my children to be more responsible for themselves and their school and sports schedules, that I couldn’t possibly remember everything for three people, that something important was going to get forgotten. Thank heavens it wasn’t catastrophic.
As a society, we have become conditioned to multi-task. Driving while using the cell phone, texting while watching junior’s soccer game, checking email while eating lunch. It seems hard to do just one thing at a time anymore. And to what end? The constant level of activity is causing incredible amounts of stress.
Studies show that while a small amount of stress – the first day at a new school, or meeting an important deadline at work – can sharpen the mind, too much stress can actually shrink the brain and make you sick. Scores of scientists continually study the effects of stress on the mind and body.
Most agree that too much stress can harm both memory and other basic mental functions. In fact, constant elevated levels of stress have been shown to not only impair the ability to form new memories but to even damage the brain cells that play a key role in turning experiences into enduring memories.
That nugget got me thinking. As I struggle for balance and stress management, I need to remind myself that “getting everything done” is less important than remembering the milestones that come my way almost every day. My daughter started high school yesterday. I want to be able to remember what she looked like when she hopped out of the car and walked towards the school, full of anticipatory nerves. Maybe not obsessively checking my email on my phone will help me remember years from now.
For me, the rest of Tuesday was mostly uneventful. I did leave my glasses on the counter of the ice cream store when I took my children for a last-day-of summer-vacation treat. I think I was talking on my cell phone at the time. A nice woman returned them to me. As I thanked her, I pledged again to slooooow down…
