Chapter 3

My picture today truly shows me how much i miss Florida and the stress i did not have. This chapter couldn’t have come at a more perfect time in my life. Around this time of year it is officially tax season, where all your hard work pays off and your get something back in return. Well normally when i do my taxes i claim zero and then i am good to go. I never claim anything more because i refuse to want to owe the IRS. When i worked at my previous job it was a daycare, i filled out all the paper work claiming zero and went on working.

All my checks were direct deposit so i looked at my pay stubs here and there to make sure my hours were right. What i didn’t notice was in tiny letters on the top it said exempt. Which i recently just learned yesterday that if your a student your job can choice to pick that on their end and basically screw you over.

My boss assumed because i am a student that my parents would claim my at the end of the year and i would get some type of money back from them doing that. My parents never claim me so in my case i need up doing my taxes and getting zero back and ending up owing the IRS over $1,000 dollars as if student debt and other bills weren’t enough.

What stood out to me in the chapter was how stress can take such a complete toll on you mentally and physically. When i found out this happened i literally had no energy to do any school wok or go to work i was just so upset at the fact someone could do that. I was in the resistance phase most of the time just trying to wrap my head around what had happened. In my mind if i claimed zero you would think that person would know i did not in any way shape or form want to owe the IRS. I have never since I started working at 15 claimed anything except zero my parents always helped me fill out the forms.

Another point in this chapter is how stress can relate to sleep problems. When this happened i had a hard time sleeping because i could not stop thinking about what happened. My mind felt like it was constantly racing and that there was not going to be any rest. When you get a good night sleep you feel refreshed in the morning, when you don’t it can cause more stress simply because you couldn’t sleep.

I noticed that from the chapter the psychosocial causes of stress for me are more academic and financial pressure. On top of my taxes my car also broke down which led to me missing class. Academically i am taking five classes so the stress really is on. The extra money from taxes was going to be to pay off my credit cards for getting my books since the school money doesn’t come in till end of February/March.

Lesson though for me this week was that stress can absolutely take over your whole life and in doing so this week i didn’t get anything i wanted done towards my health. I didn’t make it outside and i absolutely ate like crap. It showed me how much of a mind and willingness this whole process is and this week i have learned to appreciate it more. So next week i intend to get back into it.