I know how stressful wedding planning can be! So many decisions to make! So many family members to please! So much worry about weight and skin and hair color! The year of the wedding is an important one, and you want to do everything you can to make sure that the final product — the big day! — is perfect. I don’t blame you one bit, and you should do whatever you can to make sure that it all goes down without a hitch.
But putting that much focus on wedding planning — or anything that big and important — can really stress a sista out. I’m currently in the middle of a move to a new home so I should probably take my own advice below. These are things you already know, but need a gentle kick on the tushie to remind you, so without further delay, I present “How To Not Stress About Your Wedding.”
- Exercise. Blech. I know. Sweat ruins the Jew-fro. But still, it’s important. I guess you could always do things that count as exercise, but don’t feel like exercise. Like, you could play team sports with your friends! Or lay out by the pool to get a tan and then go swimming to cool off. Just do fun exercise so that your mind is off the wedding. Not to get all sciencey, but apparently, you release endorphins when you exercise and endorphins help make you feel all peace-love-and-happiness and stuff. To quote Elle Woods, “Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don’t shoot their husbands, they just don’t.” I guess this quote is also applicable to marriage which is appropriate for a wedding planning blog. So, to sum it up: you should exercise so that you don’t freak out about your wedding and so that you don’t go to jail. Ta da!
- Breathe. You do it anyway without even trying so you may as well make it meaningful if you’re stressed. Take deep breaths. Count backwards from 10. Relax your mind. Sometimes those brief moments help give you some clarity. When I’m ready to throw down or I begin to fantasize about punching people in the face, I count. Usually I feel better after that. If not, then I play Candy Crush in order to run away from my problems because sometimes being immature is easier.
- Music. Blast it. Sing it. Play it. Music therapy works! Why do you think there were so many Jewish composers? They were worrying all the time about this and that and then they wrote brilliant tunes. I mean, Irving Berlin, a nice Jewish boy, writes “White Christmas,” the most un-Hanukkah-like holiday hit? I’m telling you. Music does wonders.
- Go online. Read about other peoples’ problems. There’s nothing like a little schadenfreude to keep your mind in check. So many other people have it worse. If you’re not into reading about strangers’ depressing issues, you can always search for the happy. Look into jokes or feel-good stories or pictures of puppies canoodling with babies. Waste away on the Internet to find solutions to your problems or go the opposite direction and take some time to ignore them. Use the content that’s available at your fingertips to recharge your brain so you can come away with a better grasp on your situation.
- Wine. Chocolate. Enough said.
- Spa day! There’s nothing like the quiet room, a cozy robe, soft-talking therapists, and a massage. Make that Me-time happen for you! Go get a treatment that puts you at ease. A massage and a pedicure are my two favorites. Think about what you’d love most right now to pamper yourself and give yourself permission to enjoy. You deserve it!
- Be with your favorite person. Make a spontaneous getaway with the lucky person who gets to marry you! Escape from reality for a bit and relish in the joy that is you two. It’s important to put into perspective why you’re getting married and that the other nonsense matters much less than the love you’re professing on that one day. If you can’t do a real vacation where you turn off wedding talk for an extended period of time, go out and have a date night. Or cuddle on the couch. Don’t talk about the wedding. Don’t go on Pinterest. Don’t even read The Wedding Yentas {I know, how are you going to cope?!}. Just be with your love and boycott the wedding so you can refocus when it’s time to hit the pavement again.
Good luck! Everything’s going to be OK!
