A few years ago---okay, more like 20---I took a stress management series of classes at a local hospital. They said if you start to feel like you're making it worse, *walk away*. Five minutes, ten minutes, a day, a week, whatever. I find that helps me.... It just gets me away from the source of irritation (or the visible sign of it anyway, like the puddle of water on my floor, ot he cat barf, or s on ) and I can take a few moments to just do my calming breathing and then it's not so irritating. And for work stuff? Oh yeah! Take a day, play a little, watch a goofy movie, whatever it takes.

:-)

I knows days like that when I start to clean and organize . Things just start to fall over and I feel like I make more of a mess than when I started. I love those good and productive days. Yeah sounds about right. You body tends to tell you when you need a break and you have to listen to your body tells you. Sounds like a good plan.

John 3:16 " For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish , but have everlasting life."

Arfie- I think of it as hitting a plateau. When you hit The Wall, sometimes it's best to take care of yourself before you break through to the other side.

I also try to remember what I read/heard once. I have to paraphrase:

Sometimes, you have to be satisfied with 90%. In trying to achieve the 100%, you may slide back down.

That drop of soup was that 10%.

Hugs.

Well, you might be experiencing scrupulosity: the urge to be "perfect" in everything and enormous self judgment when you "fail" (and you will always "fail" because there is not one Human being on this earth who can be "perfect in everything").

Somewhere in your mind, there is another "voice" (the Freudians call it the "super ego") that is giving you instructions on "how you SHOULD live". The "should"is very important here. My first real therapist taught me that all "shoulds" must be abandoned upon our realization that they are driving us, and I agree. I just can't live that way unfortunately. Intellectual realization and emotional awareness are two very separate things. We can *know* and yet not be able to fully *act* on that knowledge.

So you spilled a bowl of soup? SO WHAT? SO you're "failing" in your attempt to be "perfect", this makes you Human! Why not think about this and try Leox3's suggestion.

I know, I try to do the butterfly in quicksand sometimes, when all I'd have to do is be still and not try to swim so hard.

I actually spill stuff when I'm overworked. Your spilling more soup trying to clean up a soup spill? I could make a nice long list of liquids I've spilled like that. Nearly fried my laptop with a spill like that last week. I got some rest.

Hope you do, too.

For balance, i think you're right on the money there, "play a little, work a little" to start. Plus don't beat yourself up if you feel you could have done more, instead, praise yourself for what you did do and for that "play" since you're looking after your own needs (being kind to yourself)...