Tiny things that add up to so much stress

[Anonymous]

I feel like a lot of sources of stress for me are small things that just put me over the edge. I work full time and have young kids so time is at a premium. I recently got gifted a voucher for one kid from nike. She was super excited to order things - then nike inexplicably cancelled the order and said ‘contact us if you think this is an error’. Only you can’t email them or dm on Twitter - there isn’t even a form. You have to call them. Same with Walmart. These might seem like small things but it’s the sum of a lot of them when us working parents have zero time that to me contributes to the ticking of endless to dos and stress that makes us all crazy. Anyone else feel like Michael Douglas in falling down when this stuff happens? (Side note thank god for target who are the opposite and deserve all the mom awards!)

[Anonymous]

Totally agree with this.

[Anonymous]

Yes. An issue with the license plate number assigned to our car for the village vechicle registration process almost sent me over the edge. No online communication and our village clerks office wasn’t answering the phone. I called three times over the course of a week. It was making me insane because it was so inefficient and was such a nagging task!

[Anonymous]

Yes, add dealing with medical bills (not the money - the phone part!), especially if they are incorrect, plus pharmacies (on hold for over an hour on the regular), and pointless kids paperwork (redundant camp forms... tis the season for this one so I'm especially grumpy about it....I just filled in my address 7 times! You need me to again?!)

[Anonymous]

Agree!
Why can I make a doc appt online, using a portal, but to cancel that save appt I hs r to call the office, press 1, press 2 etc…. It’s annoying.

[Anonymous]

I hate spending 5 minutes listening to the preamble recorded messages telling me I can do most transactions online when I'm calling because the online thing failed. It's as if it's designed to make you as grumpy as possible for the live representative who finally answers your call.

[Anonymous]

The little things become the big things.

[Anonymous]

For me, it's that all this labor is real and draining but it's also invisible and feels redundant. And in my household, I do 98% of it.

[Anonymous]

Losing your phone. There was a time we didn't even have these things and everyone survived. I lost my phone for a couple hours last week and the anxiety and panic was out of control.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Losing your phone. There was a time we didn't even have these things and everyone survived. I lost my phone for a couple hours last week and the anxiety and panic was out of control.

Lose your phone for long enough and the opposite will happen.

[Anonymous]

Yes. My son chose woodworking as his 'passion project' for Language Arts, except nobody in our family does woodworking and I'm a single parent who now had to facilitate the building of a small size chair and table. Just when I think my week is under control some random announcement like this comes out and feels so stressful. His first idea was baking a cake which would've been so much easier...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. My son chose woodworking as his 'passion project' for Language Arts, except nobody in our family does woodworking and I'm a single parent who now had to facilitate the building of a small size chair and table. Just when I think my week is under control some random announcement like this comes out and feels so stressful. His first idea was baking a cake which would've been so much easier...

Omg. You win some kind of award and I’m sorry.

It is worth a quick Google to see if wherever you live has a “tool library”. Also, can you readjust to doing just a stool? A chair is incredibly difficult. No novice woodworker is going to be able to do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. My son chose woodworking as his 'passion project' for Language Arts, except nobody in our family does woodworking and I'm a single parent who now had to facilitate the building of a small size chair and table. Just when I think my week is under control some random announcement like this comes out and feels so stressful. His first idea was baking a cake which would've been so much easier...

Can he do a model chair and table out of balsa wood from Michaels? You could do that with scissors and glue.

Or get a doll's house furniture kit
https://www.thelittledollhousecompany.com/miniature-diy-furniture-accessories-kits-c-262/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. My son chose woodworking as his 'passion project' for Language Arts, except nobody in our family does woodworking and I'm a single parent who now had to facilitate the building of a small size chair and table. Just when I think my week is under control some random announcement like this comes out and feels so stressful. His first idea was baking a cake which would've been so much easier...

That's not so bad assuming you're not building a chair that someone will actually sit in. There are some woodworking stores out there where you can pay to use their equipment and also outsource the woodworking instruction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. My son chose woodworking as his 'passion project' for Language Arts, except nobody in our family does woodworking and I'm a single parent who now had to facilitate the building of a small size chair and table. Just when I think my week is under control some random announcement like this comes out and feels so stressful. His first idea was baking a cake which would've been so much easier...

That's not so bad assuming you're not building a chair that someone will actually sit in. There are some woodworking stores out there where you can pay to use their equipment and also outsource the woodworking instruction.

Some of these guys might help out a young guy wanting to learn about woodworking
https://usmenssheds.org/