If You’re Going to Stress Out . . . 

Checklist on bulletin board with Now and Later marked. . . do it ahead of time.

Oh the joys of doing things beforehand! This is concert week for the Cherry Creek Chorale (and it’s not too late to check and see if there are still tickets available). This is my fourth year as a member, and I’ve been in charge of our traditional Friday-night receptions since my second concert back in December 2012. It was one of those things—I felt compelled to step up and volunteer as the coordinator. Some people are food people, and some aren’t, and the person in charge at the time was not.

Plus she was in charge of the ushers and other front-of-the-house items. Plus she ended up moving away shortly thereafter. So I said, “Would you like for me to take over coordinating the receptions?” Now there’s a whole extra level of stress for me as concert week rolls around, as I need to get food signups, and make a lot of food myself, and get the punch ingredients, and make sure that we have cups and plates and napkins, and go in early to set up and decorate Friday afternoon, and worry about whether or not everything will be ready when the crowd surges in, etc., etc. I always say that the Saturday-night concerts are so relaxing, as all I have to do is to sing!

Well, I’ve gradually realized that I don’t have to wait until Thursday afternoon or Friday morning to bake my items, or to go shopping. And I don’t have to haul everything over to our concert location on Friday. I can do it on Thursday, when we have our extra rehearsal. I can get everything put in the fridge and freezer. I can stress myself out on Wednesday and Thursday instead of on Friday. And if something unexpected comes up, I have things covered so that I don’t have to panic. I’m actually writing this as I sit at the physical therapy office where Jim’s getting his first session after his knee surgery. We got over to the supposed location ahead of the 6:30 AM appointment time, but the place wasn’t open. Hmmm. I hadn’t saved the voicemail giving the name of the place, but we thought it was “Body Image.” Well, it wasn’t. So we had to go home and call the place, discovered that we had been only a few blocks from the correct place, so then go back. It’s now 8:20. I had thought I’d be back home much sooner than this. But you know what? I’m in pretty good shape. There are a couple of items I still need to make, and I have various items to load up, and unfortunately I still don’t have my napkins, but I pushed myself so hard for the past two days that, really, I can relax today and not be sitting here having a fit over the unexpected delay. Be sure to read next week’s hospitality blog post, where I’ll tell you how everything goes tonight. I’m still anxious, I still have a knot in my stomach—but I can take deep breaths and say, ‘I have things covered,’ instead of my usual mantra, ‘It’ll get done somehow.’ Much better.