<p>DTE, be kind to yourself. If it’s time to consider semi-retirement or a change of environment, I’m sure your D would understand and I’m sure she’d rather have you happy and healthy. Where there’s a will there’s a way…and you’ve likely already helped so much more than average. </p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong, i think student debt sucks. But I also think there comes a time when our kids can reasonably expect to find their way and that in some ways the independence makes the accomplishment sweeter. Then again, I’m generally considered to be a hard-*ss 
Likely because I had to scrabble my own way from the git go ;)</p>
<p>Speaking of scrabbling, I’m pretty sure the stress is endemic to that. To me it seems there’s so much “noise” in society these days that there are many without the skill to manage it. By noise, I mean the constant chatter of social media, often emotionally manipulative, the angst evident in polarized mainstream media, the continued growing socioeconomic gap, the speed and pace and general expectation level in the average workplace, where often, the power is wielded by the utterly incompetent and the continual assault of all these things at close range. Combine all that with people’s general modern (if unrealistic) expectation of what they “deserve” in life versus what they have and your bound to have cognitive dissonance ;)</p>
<p>I personally would be lost without the balancing effect of hot tub, wine, a good book or a walk in the woods, and the deadly serious commitment to putting those things into my life in whatever small chunks I can while still financing it all,’ which can be a very tricky balance some days ;)</p>
<p>Yesterday, for example, our latest unreasonable deadline (made unreasonable by delays on the client side beyond our control) had everyone working late into the night. And the work that had us burning the midnight oil was not work we were supposed to do, but the client had placed an unreasonable expectation on a sole employee to perform a function critical to the project. When I identified there would be a bottle neck and offered (for a fee) to have my staff work OT to keep the project on schedule, I perhaps transferred the stress to us, but otherwise saved the project from an unacceptable delay. I’m not entirely sure I should have done it, but the alternatives seemed unappealing. In situations lie those its hard to preserve and protect my time, which I think us a skill required to reduc stress.</p>
<p>At the same time, that can be offset once all is done with time off and treats, and I try hard to make sure that happens after one of these extraordinary instances. But I notice that in terms of our clients, many are just staying ahead by a thread, late making decisions, late identifying unsuspected consequences, can’t get ahead of the curve, employees dropping balls, etc. And of course, that then contaminates us. So it’s hard to balance.</p>
<p>Speaking of which, the hot tub awaits ;)</p>
Hopefully I’ll learn but not always! Some times people just don’t have a clue what others are facing (pain, depression, anxiety, sadness, limitations on movement or whatever). </p>