Reply #11: My suggestion would be to take it one step at a time.

[AZBlue]

It sounds as if the greatest stressor in your life is your job. Find a new one. I know a little of what you're going through - I hate my job. No, I mean HATE my job. I have the MOST awful boss. Not only is he a really bad boss, he's a despicable person. Since I've been at this job I've gained 60 pounds - 35 of that in just the past year that this boss has been around. And, so on...much more to tell but this is about you and not me.

My point is that I've been thinking a lot about this and I've realized that a lot of things in my life will be better once I get a new job. We spend too much time at our jobs and it's too big a part of our lives for them to not be more tolerable situations. I don't know about you, but I know I don't make nearly enough to put up with the stress and pressure I have at work - and I can find a job paying at least what I make now, probably more, with far less stress. As you know, stress is bad for us, physically and mentally - and the stress from our jobs spills over into other areas of our lives too.

So, I'd suggest trying that - attack your first stressor head on and if things don't improve as much as you'd like, take on stressor #2, and so on. You don't need to add stress by trying to change everything at once and maybe you'll find out that you don't really need to change everything.