Am I too friendly with Stress? Or is taking action to cut stress leads to calm?
That mental rehearsal thing for upcoming interactions is a moderate waste of time. Most often it's something I've dealt with before, or it should be fairly easy to track the interaction in real time and handle myself with poise and "honorably." So I've been cutting that off with "The words will be there when I need them." Same with imagining what I might do if they try this or that. "The right action will be there when I need it."
I also find I'm arguing with the news. "No comment." I say that inwardly and the news goes its way and I go mine.
Re: fixing your walls. Put on music you like, and if you can't really smooth it right, chuck that idea and make a creative relief or facade out of it. Oh, when I have something like that I watch plenty of youtube tutorial videos. Sometimes people share little discoveries that make a world of difference.
R.