Stressing about Stress Reduction

I got an email yesterday asking me if I would be available to lead a session on Friday afternoon during a training that I'm already participating in as a yoga teacher. I led the session on Stress Reduction a couple of times a couple of years ago and it pays well and I enjoyed it in the past, so naturally I said yes. The main glitch that came to mind is that I already have another client at that time, so I contacted them and worked out an arrangement to teach them another time, which required getting my daughter some child care. That got all sorted out tonight and that was really the least of my worries as it turns out.

Leading a workshop takes some planning and handouts usually, and I was already in the middle of doing that for the big workshop happening this weekend - finishing up the details for the yoga teacher training this coming weekend. I figured I'd just look up my old files and review what I'd done before for this Stress Reduction session of 2 and a half hours. I knew they were on the old computer. What I'd forgotten is that the old computer needs to hook up to an old monitor and we put our last old monitor out on the curb many months ago. So my old computer has files on it but I can't see them. I had backed them up but then wrote over the back up ages ago, too. Hmm. Best Buy was going to be open for another 15 minutes, maybe I could go and get a digital-to-analog monitor converter dongle. Maybe not.

Then I checked the messages on my cell phone. A few days ago I got a message from my contact inviting me to teach a different session than he described in the email. Uh oh. I called his cell right away but haven't heard back yet tonight. I *could* lead this other session theoretically, however, leading a workshop takes some planning and some handouts, like I said. I have neither planning nor handouts for the session he mentioned in the VOICEmail. I have other planning and handouts for the session called Stress Reduction he mentioned in the Email. On top of it, he said in the VOICEmail that the guy who usually teaches this part is gone for the year and would I like to do it for the year. He hadn't mentioned that in the Email. So this had better be a great session on Stress Reduction or whatever it's on.

Meanwhile, child is home and loud. Partner is home and now has cable. Home is small. I am busy. I would suggest to my clients who are looking to reduce stress in their lives that they say no to squeezing in just one more workshop inside of a week of workshops that doesn't even include a single day off. Good thing I have a big buffer. I get to practise breathing and feeling and all that.

Oh, and an earlier email today that said could I send my power point presentation over asap. I didn't use a power point presentation in the past! I used newsprint! I hope that'll fly. I guess I'll stop blogging now and start typing out the slides. I did find the files in an archive on my notebook computer, which I had smartly put there a couple of years ago.

(That's a picture of Luc I took years ago right as he was retiring from the Mounties. He was the one who got me the job that led to this workshop happening in the first place and will be in Hawaii by the time I'm leading this thing on Friday. After reviewing these old photos I'm quite certain I'll have a killer slide presentation for the RCMP on Friday.)