Lisa sent me a link to a NY Times article from the weekend about stress. There wasn’t anything really groundbreaking in the article. It just talked about how we, Americans, work too hard and how we should take time to relax more. It’s a great idea. It just won’t happen.
Meanwhile, we’re all stressed out. (Perfect topic for a Monday, right?).
Everyone I know is stressed. Friends. Family. Adults. Teens. Even kids. Everyone has too much to do. Folks have too much on their minds. We’ve all got too much stress.
The thing is…no one seems to have any idea about how to de-stress; how to relieve some of the burden that plagues us all. Some folks exercise. Some pray. Some meditate. Some sink themselves deeper into work. No matter. The relief is temporary.
Once the activity is over, we’re back to overpromising; overcommitting (and overstressing).
Some folks seem to cope better with the stress; others seem paralyzed by it. But no matter…it seems like everyone has it.
Back in the day, I used to find gardening to be a wonderful stress relief. And one day when I head ‘back to the farm,’ I hope to do so again.
If you’re asking for my advice (well, no one did…but I’m only halfway through this blog, so there seems to be plenty of space for it), then I think the best thing to do is to remember some simple techniques.
Stress the Positive –
A former supervisor of mine had some great advice about how to interpret information. We always want to imagine the worst. His advice was to imagine the best. His point was that if the news IS bad, there is plenty of time to deal with the bad news later. But if you get worked up about it to begin with, it leads to no good - especially when the message was good (or at least neutral) in the first place.
Worry is a Tax –
Another, similar, piece of advice comes from my dad who always quoted the old adage that ‘Worry is a Tax You Pay on Something that May or May Not Happen Anyway.’ (I think I got that right). In any case, like my former supervisor, ol’ Nick’s take on impending bad news is that when it happens, you’ll know. Sitting around worrying about it in advance does you no good (but a lot of potential harm).
Find Something Good to do -
For folks who tend to like to wallow in sadness, I think the best advice I can give is to pursue some sort of pastime. That activity could take the form of a household project or some volunteer activity or a new hobby. Sometimes, you just need some sort of creative outlet to expend all the nervous energy that tends to manifest when you are stressed. For all the high schoolers I’m around these days – stressed about future plans, upcoming tests or just life in general – the workdays for theatre and after school rehearsals are incredibly therapeutic.
One last bit of advice is to pray, meditate or ‘think good thoughts’ – whichever is most appropriate for your lifestyle.
I do that each morning. I organize my thoughts for the day – the worries and challenges before me - and I lift up those in the form of prayer to God. I always feel better after I do that.
In any case, no matter how you process information; no matter how you deal with the stress of the day, maybe the best advice of all is as simple as this: “Don’t Worry Baby.”
JG
Originally posted 2/11/2013
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