We live in a very busy complicated world. We are told on a regular basis just what we are supposed to do and feel. We have invited strangers into our lives through social media and we feel that their opinion of us is needed, necessary, and worth listening to. We are feeling totally overwhelmed if we don’t have our act together, we don’t have a plan, we don’t have a specific goal, or even have a clue what is going to happen next. But I am here to remind you of something you already know, but have forgotten.
You are going to be ok.
- Maybe not today.
- Maybe not tomorrow.
- Maybe not next year.
- Maybe not what you used to be all about, but ok just the same.
We have become used to being in constant stress and when we try to de-stress, we are supposed to know how to do that too. We hear words like self-care, you do you, and total relaxation, yeah, like that is actually a thing.
With the world at our fingers in the form of our laptops, pads, phones, we should have things totally figured out or at least know where and how to find the answers. And yet, we are actually living in a world with more stress, or so we are made to feel.
The thing is that life was never promised to be stress-free. Ok, maybe that doesn’t make you feel any better either, but it should. Life is stressful. It always has been, it always will be. It is just different stress than ever before.
A hundred years ago when people lived to the ripe old age of 40ish, not kidding for men it was 26 for women it was 42, they had stress. They just didn’t tell everyone. You just dealt with it. Now, we know so much more about how to handle such stress. We know that just ‘handling it’ isn’t the answer either. We are way more complex beings for that. And it is totally possible that ‘handling it’ may have lead to the lifeline being as short as it was. Hhhmmm
Learning how to deal with stress is really important. The stress isn’t going anywhere so it’s time to find what works for you. We all have different levels of stress. We all have different kinds of stress. We all have different ways we deal with stress. So with all those variable is there any one thing that is constant? Actually yes, there is.
It won’t last forever.
Does that seem lame? It shouldn’t. I know when you are up to your eyeballs in whatever it is you have to deal with. That is the last thing you want to hear. It’s like hearing someone tell you to cheer up when you are sad. ‘ yeah, sure, I’ll get right on that!’ But it is truer than true. Nothing lasts forever.
- Tomorrow the sun will come up and a whole new day will begin.
- Jan 1 will happen and a new year will begin.
- June 21 will come and another summer will be here.
- Babies are born and people die.
- Nothing lasts forever.
- Your stress won’t either!
When you are thinking about that stress, think about when you were all upset about studying for finals in high school. You got through that. You asked that girl out for a date. Maybe she said no, maybe she is your wife now. You got through that. That job interview that was making you sweat through your shirt. You got through that. You survived so many things that you have totally forgotten about and then moved on to the next great adventure.
It’s time to move on to that next great adventure that is waiting for you. Take a breath. Close your eyes for a moment. Take your shot at the next thing that will cause you stress and deal with it.
- Have a cry.
- Have a laugh.
- Eat the cake.
- Drink the drink.
- Drive that car.
- Take that flight.
- Show up for that interview.
- Be on time for that meeting.
- Call that friend.
- Forgive that family member.
- Pet the dog.
- Feel the sun on your face.
Happiness is a choice. You can choose to be happy. There's going to be stress in life, but it's your choice whether you let it affect you or not. – Valerie Bertinelli