Are you a professional who struggles with stress?

I am Marcyline Bailey, a licensed clinical social worker and founder of Happyhalfhour.club, the community for hardworking professionals who want to be happy. I consider myself to be a hardworking professional who works full-time as a school social worker and owns a part-time private practice in which I see 3-4 patients a week. My blog shares tips that I have learned to manage and relieve overwhelming stress. Additionally, I am developing a collection of bedtime stories for adults.

Being a wife and parent of two teenagers adds to my stress. We just survived our oldest child’s high school senior year. Have you experienced a child’s senior year? We had no concerns about graduation, we knew that our child had completed all the academic requirements. We were concerned about her inability to pace herself. She made a commitment to do as much as possible with her school and friends before graduation. Consequently, she wore herself out and was sidelined for a month with a virus. You can imagine that this caused my stress level to increase.

The process our child used to choose a college concerned us. It did not match ours. Questions like in-state or out of state? Public or private? Large or small? Playing soccer or not playing soccer? Have enough money? These questions kept us on edge for a year. Finally, we received the answers and our child will attend the university of her choice.

Another issue compounded our stress when our youngest child injured her knee in a highs school state playoff game in Atlanta, GA. She tore her ACL, had surgery and started physical therapy. While we have medical insurance, the costs are adding up. The initial MRI alone was over $1600. Financial concerns continue to be a major cause of stress for most people.

One weekend a month I help my 82-year-old mother purge her house of unused and unwanted items. Because she lives in another state, I have to plan and coordinate my visit. My mother and I disagree about what needs to stay or go. I recognize that change is hard for her. She needs to throw away a lifetime of items. This makes her stress level is rise. At the same time, my desire to keep her stress low increases mine.

I worked as the assistant director of an academic enrichment program for rising 6th and 7th grade students this summer. My responsibilities began in February. My desire to learn and do the job well increased my stress level to a new high. Most of all, I felt exhausted by the time I got home in the evening. Waking early, interrupted sleep and constant motion during the day contributed to stress causing fatigue.

The pressures of life cause overwhelming stress. Although I am a trained social worker, I too feel overwhelmed at times. For this reason, I have found ways to understand and use stress to my advantage. I have also found practical ways to decrease and limit the negative effects.

For this reason, I developed Happyhalfhour.club the place where I share and encourage you to stop allowing stress to overwhelm you. I invite you to join us.

Happy Half Hour Club is a community for hardworking professionals who want to be happy. Subscribe to receive stress relieving tips that can be accomplished in 30 minutes of less. Like the Happyin30 Facebook page and connect with us on Instagram @Happyin30 and Twitter @Happyin30.