HEALTHY LIVING WITH JANICE--COMBATING HOLIDAY #STRESS

It’s two weeks before Christmas, and if you’re like most women, you’re obsessing about everything you have to get done between now and then. Holiday celebrations are supposed to be joyous occasions, but too often they result in stress and depression due to all the demands that are placed on us and that we place on ourselves. Sometimes we become our own worst enemy.

Here are some tips for minimizing the stress that threatens to sabotage us this time of year:

1. Take a deep breath. Whenever you’re feeling frazzled and pulled in a million directions at once, give yourself a time-out. Close your eyes, and take some deep calming breaths.

2. Don’t try to be a superhero. It’s unrealistic to think that you can create the perfect holiday. You can’t, and guess what? No one expects you to. Once you accept this, you and everyone else around you will have a more enjoyable celebration.

3. Decide what you need to do and create a schedule—but again, make it a realistic one. If you’re going to bake, make double-batches of half the varieties of cookies you normally make instead of so many different varieties. Rather than fighting for a parking space at the mall and standing in long lines at the register, do as much of your shopping online as you can. Plan your meals ahead of time and shop for all the ingredients once instead of running back and forth to the store because you’ve run out of something.

4. Create a budget and stick to it. Spending more than you should spend will only create more stress for you once those bills come due in January.

5. If you’re having company, clear away the clutter, but don’t obsess over the need for a spotless house. It’s only going to get dirty from all that company. And if you see your mother-in-law swiping her finger across your mantle to check for dust, that’s her problem, not yours. Don’t let her drive you crazy.

6. Remember that your health comes first. The best way to fight stress is to get enough sleep, exercise, and eat healthfully.

#HEALTHY LIVING WITH JANICE--AUTHOR DONNELL ANN BELL ON #STRESS

Author Donnell Ann Bell with the Dammit Doll

Donnell Ann Bell is an award-winning author of three romantic suspense novels, all of which have been e-book bestsellers. Buried Agendas is her fourth published novel. Currently she is working on her first suspense series for Bell Bridge Books. Donnell and her husband live in Colorado. Learn more about Donnell and her books at her website. 

Stress – who needs it?

I read an interesting article once that said some people thrive on stress. Hard to believe, but when you think about it, that explains why people go into law enforcement, become hot shot firefighters, become heart surgeons, or high rise window washers. They need challenges, the adrenaline rush that comes from their jobs, and these individuals deliberately choose to put stress in their lives.

These are the types of characters we writers love to create because they’re like a sleeper sofa with a built-in bed. Writing characters with dangerous occupations comes equipped with conflict. That’s the reason I like suspense. I’ve written about cops, defense lawyers, and a woman in jeopardy being stalked by an ex-convict. I infinitely prefer giving my characters stress, while keeping me out of it.

When I think about Lois Winston and her Anastasia Pollack series, Lois chooses a character who’s doing her best to avoid stress. Anastasia is a craft editor who craves the mundane. But with two boys, a narcissistic always-wedding mother, and an even crazier communist mother- in-law, stress is regularly heaped on Anastasia. Add a body or two in Lois’s stories, and she has the complete hysterical stress-filled package.

In BURIED AGENDAS, my newest release from Bell Bridge Books, my characters are under stress. I send my investigative reporter into a place where her credentials are useless. She has to enter Jordan Industries, a chemical processing plant, using only her wits, and everything about what she is doing is not only risky but illegal.

 

I’m grateful there are a lot of different personalities in this world. It keeps us writers in business. As for stress, I prefer to avoid it. How about you? Are you an adrenaline junky? Do you crave excitement or put yourself in stressful situations? Or are you more like me and believe stress is for the other guy?

For commenters, let’s do a drawing. Recently I saw the cutest stress reliever ever, and I’d like to include it in my giveaway. Today I’ll send one commenter a copy of Buried Agendas and a Dammit Doll, so be sure to include your e-mail address.

Whenever things don’t go so well,

and you want to hit the wall and yell,

here’s a little dammit doll that you can’t do without.

Just grasp it firmly by the legs

and find a place to slam it.

And as you whack the stuffing out,

yell, “Dammit, Dammit! Dammit!

Here’s to climbing mountains or lying on a beach, whichever you prefer.

Buried Agendas

Diana Reid is an investigative reporter skilled at uncovering other people’s secrets. It’s her own that she works to keep buried. Eight years earlier, she promised to leave her fiancé and hometown of Diamond, Texas forever. That pledge vanishes when she receives a letter stating people are going to die, implicating her hometown’s largest employer, and making a veiled threat against her mother. With no other choice, Diana will return to Diamond, albeit in disguise, to discover the anonymous author.

Brad Jordan moved on with his life after Diana walked out on him. Needless to say, she’s an unwelcome topic. Just as he rebuilt his life, the newly elected mayor of Diamond, and newly engaged to be married, he plans to rebuild his struggling hometown. Those plans are threatened when an El Paso physician notifies Brad that she believes his family’s company, Jordan Industries, is conducting illegal practices and sacrificing the public’s health.

When the doctor suggests bringing in Diana to uncover the wrongdoing, Brad is opposed to the idea. Still, when she appears despite his wishes, he is forced to accept that a woman he vowed to forget may be his only option to get to the truth.

Together Diana Reid and Brad Jordan face a dangerous adversary—one whose only intent is keeping a deadly agenda buried.

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