Stomach puts its foot down

I've been hit by some serious life lessons the last few weeks, and the biggest lesson of all is that I have got to pick up some better stress-management skills.

The last week has been a little more exciting than I like. I heard back on a submission--the editor liked the story and might be able to use the piece if I was willing to make some revisions. I got extremely excited, wracked my brain, and whipped up the changes. I sent them out. Then I wondered if I had put pins and needles on my desk chair and checked my email four times in the next fifteen minutes, wondering if the darn thing had actually gone through.

Wednesday, I heard back from the editor (a person punctual, kind, encouraging and extremely enjoyable to work for!). The piece had been accepted! This was such exceptionally good news that I began cry. I spent the night alternating the urge to sob and the urge to profoundly vomit.

Thursday I was still wound tight. My stomach knotted itself into a ball I could palpate. It felt like a small woman's fist, pushing against my skin. I kept trying to calm down--after all, this was good news. I should be a little more reasonable about thing. I also felt extremely exhausted. I think my adrenal glands blew themselves out and were desperate for a recharge.

After two days of dragging along, I woke up today with a sore throat and feeling miserable. I went to work anyway. It was apparent that the germs I'd been fighting off had taken hold in my worn-out system, and by noon, all hell (or at least all stomach!) had broken loose. Luckily, my supervisor sent me home and I crashed for about five hours.

But how stupid is all this? I've basically been unable to get anything done and missed out on several hours of much-needed wages because I can not make myself unwind when I get too over-stimulated. So it's obvious that I need some skills, some tips, some ... something!

Anyway, more than happy to see some wisdom hit the comments here.