High blood pressure, heart attack, failed marriage, dysfunctional relationships, and yes, even belly fat – the blame??? STRESS.
As if the gods themselves targeted you as their playful pawn, hurling flaming darts of misfortune and mishap from the sky into your life. Everyone and everything is out to get YOU; if only there were a cave to crawl into and simply vegetate.
So many of us see stress as an external force targeting our lives when in actuality stress is an internal force that we have complete control and management over. It is simply the manner in which we interpret our environment and how we choose to deal with it.
“Wow!” you say, “If only I’d known!”
Fair enough; but hear me out before you click the mouse and my words are thrown into the abyss of internet mayhem.
If we can change the way we view stress, it can be conquered.
Even the top psychiatrists claim stress is a load on you. They tell us to remove the obstacles that cause stress in our lives. If it is your job – quit or change careers and seek a counselor. If it is your marriage – seek a counselor. If it is your children – seek a counselor. Whatever it is, they end up getting paid and we still don’t understand how to live with stress.
Stress is an overwhelming power when it is unmanaged just as the laundry or bills or even our children. Any part of our life that is out of control evolves into an internal anxiety that affects our every move. How we view the stress in our lives will significantly impact our health, our loved ones, our jobs, and ourselves.
5 STEPS TO CONQUER STRESS
- Acknowledge that every problem you face in life has a solution; you just need to find it. Write down the best case scenario to occur, the worst and somewhere in between. Focus on the somewhere in between and how to get there. To find the silver lining, you have to face the clouds.
- Recognize that you are human. Humans are not Super-Humans. You don’t have a magical cape, can’t see the future, or read minds. Mistakes are going to be made but most are not life threatening and usually present an opportunity to learn and change. Find that opportunity and focus on it rather than the mistake.
- Refuse to continue the patterns that get you in the middle of unmanaged lifestyles. Once you have conquered it, move forward and do not allow yourself to return. The rear view mirror is only meant to remind us of what is back there. If we focus only on the past, we miss the future.
- Cheer for yourself. Negative thoughts and negative words cripple your efforts. Positive self-talk is a powerful tool. What you allow inside your mind is a part of your belief system and how you view life. Don’t see things as failures but as steps to a better opportunity. Don’t allow yourself to speak impossible, tell yourself YOU CAN!
- Faith in yourself is contagious to all those around you. If you believe it is possible, everyone around you will soon believe too. Challenges make life fun. Opportunities give us growth. And faith in our own abilities eliminates stress.
Live your life as if you have already seen the ending and everything turns out just as it should. For if we believe in the outcome, the steps to get there are all in line.
Nora C. Hatchett
Note from The Bean Countess
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