Don't Let Stress Win

Has anyone besides me noticed how fast life is going these days? We rush in traffic. We scramble to get out the door on time. There are days we look at the clock and frown because it's only 8:30 p.m. and we're too tired to do anything else with our day. When I was a child I thought that days were endless. We would go outside to play in the summer after breakfast, come back in for lunch and head back out on our bicycles to find a friend in the neighborhood. By the time dinner rolled around you were either calling your mom from a friend's house to see if you could stay for dinner or bringing someone home with you.

 

Somewhere along the line we grew up and life got complicated ... with school, homework, jobs, children, parents, and insurmountable amounts of responsibilities. Now trying to find that 60 minutes needed to cut the grass, work in the garden, do the laundry or grocery shopping, or even just take a walk becomes something that needs to be scheduled or added to the To Do list. Not to say that all days and weeks have come to that, but it does seem to happen more frequently.

 

Not having the time (or the energy) to do the things you want for pleasure, for your health, for creativity, to stimulate your mind, for your family, or just for yourself and your sanity can be stressful. Stress is a nasty word; it means we're allowing 'something' to get in the way of how we live our lives and we're letting 'something' control us. Stress isn't always as simple as making a choice to do or not do something. Often stress is a mere by-product of many other things. I've always been a firm believer that choices are the one thing we can control in our lives, but life can still throw you curve balls and those curve balls can often come from other people and their choices. The trickle down effect and how much those curve balls distract you and weigh on you and how you are able to live your life can be the cause of unwanted stress.

 

So what can we do about it when our choices aren't enough? Great question! If I had the answer or if it was that simple I could devote myself to helping A LOT of people. In the mean time, we must learn to take life one day and one moment at a time. We handle what we can, when we can. We find ways to lighten the load, to not try to carry it all ourselves, to be more vocal when we need help, and we listen to our gut. No one knows what YOU need better than YOU. Don't give up trying to find a balance in your life. Don't give up on trying to get your joy back.

 

What has you stressed out these days?

 

In the mean time, hold on to these little nuggets of wisdom ...

 

Take rest; a field that has rested gives a beautiful crop.

~ Ovid ~

 

God didn't do it all in one day.

What makes me think I can?

~ Author Unknown ~

 

Stress is the trash can of modern life -
we all generate it but if you don't dispose of it properly,

it will pile up and overtake your life.

~ Terri Guillemets ~