Pricking My Way To Peace

I'm a stress magnet. I pile on too many activities, wait until the last minute to finish projects, leave a little too late to get to my destinations and generally make my life more complicated than it has to be.

I thrive on deadline pressure, but it also makes my stomach upset, my skin break out and my sleep restless.

I hesitate to make any New Year's resolutions, so I started one before 2006 is through. My goal this year and beyond is to de-stress. I want to cut myself some breaks and find ways to chill out.

The first thing I did was take a break from coaching lacrosse this spring. That was a tough choice to make, but it's an extra gig that requires me to rush to my full-time job so I can leave early and rush to be at practice and games.

It was hard to give up something I love so much, but my consolation was that I can be back next season, and I might actually benefit from a little less hurry.

The second de-stressing initiative involves something I hate: needles.

I've always been afraid of them. I am the patient whose vein the technician can never find. I had my ears pierced more than a few times, but show me a syringe and I want to run.

I have a fairly high threshold for pain, but that little pinch and the buildup -- "This is going to sting a bit" -- make me squirm.

But fear is not something to hold me back, so I made my first acupuncture appointment. I'm never turning back.

Some people say that traditional Chinese medicine is too hokey; others swear by it. I'm somewhere in between, but I do know that I love it.

I was, of course, running behind schedule when I headed to my first appointment. I yelled at a few drivers who were clogging the highway before I arrived in the peaceful office in a flurry.

It's difficult to be stressed in an acupuncture office, I found quickly. The sound of running water and instrumental music you'd never hear at the mall almost drown out millions of competing thoughts and the knot in my stomach from a long day at work.

As the acupuncturist placed the needles in my back on the first visit, I winced in anticipation.

"You don't like needles, do you?" she asked.

While I started to answer I felt a tiny pinch -- and then nothing. The needles are so thin -- about the width of two pieces of hair -- that it's not much to cringe about. And when it's all over the feeling is amazing. I felt like I just had an all-body massage, wiped out and in bliss.

Not only is acupuncture supposed to help with stress, but the increased bloodflow and shift in qi (pronounced chi) improve digestion, my nagging back pain and apparently can help me get pregnant.

The acupuncturist said this ancient practice helps my body heal itself. All I know is that it feels good, relaxes me and makes me want to take better care of myself.

I've since gone back for more treatments and will keep going until I feel my resolution is on the road to completion.

Until then, I will let the needles work their magic and figure out the next de-stressing task at hand.

Paying off my Christmas bills might be a nice place to start.

Laura Lewis Brown is an adventurous newlywed who has loved, lost and doesn't mind sharing. Her column appears every other Thursday.