So.... if stress is so bad for you how do you avoid it?

My doctor told me at my last visit that I would be better if I wasn't working. My job is very stressful. I teach little ones all day. It is a never ending job that requires you to take work home every day. You never get caught up with this job. There are so many requirements, assessments, parents to deal with, lesson plans to write, evaluations, children with bad behavior, impossible deadlines and expectations, etc. You always have the principal and vice principal, along with county personel "visiting" in your room without notice. Insurance and retirement (and pay) is always being cut. It is a job you could devote 24 hours, seven days a week and it still would not be enough.

How do you spell stress? "MY LIFE" It has been crazy! I got divorced. I remarried. Life has been difficult. I can really see the decline over the last few years. I look older, feel worse, etc. PD has taken its toll on me.
How can we reduce our stress? Especially, if we are still working? I have to make a living.

Any suggestions?


Mary Frances