Thanks everyone for all the support and the great suggestions. I'm doing much better today. It's so great to be able to come to this board and get such overwhelming support.
The foam noodles are a great idea. I have the perfect coworkers that I can take out my frustration on and we'll have fun at the same time.
So, I followed everybody's advice this weekend. DH and I went out to the desert and did some "hard" riding on our quads. While going over one particularly rough mountain, I almost turned the bike over right in a very rocky, steep area. Nothing like near death to put things into perspective.
Of course, I can't keep risking my life to get over stress (kidding) and so I'm going to use the rest of your suggestions as well. I can't always exercise at work but I can stop, take a break and go for a quick walk. My biggest problem is that I'm a perfectionist and tend to dwell on what I perceive as failures for a long time. Something that I know I need to get over, but haven't been able to as yet.
Airregrrl - thanks for the hug and here's a hug right back. Reading a book was a great idea. Back when I used to be a trial lawyer, I would read books to "de-stress" and often found myself up until 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. just before a trial reading to keep my mind off the stress of starting a trial. I don't do trials now (just writs and appeals) and had forgotten about that particular technique for handling stress. I did start a new book this weekend. (Believe it or not, it's a "lawyer" book - you wouldn't think that would take my mind off my current work stress but it's about criminal law and a murder mystery, not something I usually do.) It worked. I became totally preoccupied with the plot and was able to get my mind off what happened in court on Friday. Plus, after reading for a few moments in bed I went right to sleep. Great suggestion.
4Rabbit - of course, you're right. I know that I'm a good attorney and I always try my best. But whenever something like that happens, I tend to turn the blame to me and think I must have failed. I give other people the power to make me feel bad and to make me feel inadequate. Taking that power away from those other people is a lot harder than you would think - especially for "A" type personalities like me. I just have to keep working at it. Thanks for the insight. Next time this happens, I'll have a mental talk with myself and go over my actions to see what, if anything, I did to cause the situation. If my answer is nothing, then I need to get past it. If I did something, then I need to use that as a learning experience and forgive myself.
Again, I am so appreciative of the support you all gave. Great suggestions and I will not only keep them in mind, but put them into practice.
