Stress - Break-Down or Break-Thru!

Life is made up of a series of choices…If your professional or personal life is chaotic and hectic it usually emanates from your own choices. Many of us go from extinguishing one fire to the next, believing we never have enough time to do all the things on our list… Stress Relief is easier than you think!

I recently finished a book published by Simple Truths on dealing with stress. The author writes how life is a series of choices and how being stress free is just but one of those choices. In todays world of gadgets and technology we seem to always be tempted to fit more and more “things” into our lives and schedules. Recently it seems many, (myself included), are longing for a much simpler life…unfortunately  most can’t slow down long enough to see through all the clutter which has built up in their lives.

In order to identify the problem causing the stress you must first step back and look at the big picture before starting the simplification process. Look to see what’s missing …(It’s just as important to the process to see what isn’t there …because what isn’t there could be the root cause of the stress).  Discover if you are missing time with family, personal recharge time, or some other small, seemingly insignificant, part which is causing your stress.

Henry David Thoreau once said…”It’s not what you look at that matters…it’s what you see”. (Go to How do you handle personal and business challenges )…So ask yourself these questions: What’s missing in my life? Am I spending too much time on things that don’t really matter? What choices am I making right now which cause me stress?

Timing Is Everything: Garrett Hedlund performs a song titled “Timing Is Everything” part of the lyrics rings true for this blog topic…

“When the stars line up…and you catch a good break
and people think you’re lucky…but you know it’s grace
it can happen so fast…or a little bit late…timing is everything”

Below are several Tips To Improve Your “Timing”…

1). Life can become very full…Very fast! The key to timing is to “Schedule your Priorities not Prioritize your Schedule”…Blocking off time for who and what is most important in our lives can actually free us up to give laser like focus on  everything else.

(Go to Eat Your Frog First )

2). Good things can happen when you get your priorities straight. Do you have an order for your priorities in your life or is everything in competition with each other day after day…month after month? Make the choice to carve out some “me time” every day…you may find out it the best choice you’ve ever made.

(Go to t-i-m-e )

3). Are your wants and needs balanced?…

Vernon Howard once said “You have succeeded in life when all you really want… is only what you really need” …

Easy to say but hard to follow! In this world of instant gratification some of us have found ourselves surrounded by a mountain of useless junk. Are all these “things” bringing us joy or stress? I can remember Christmas when our two girls were younger…staying up late putting together tons of what I affectionately referred to as “plastic crap”…then only to have to store it in the attic in February because the girls no longer played with them…making room for more “plastic crap” they got for birthdays. 

What I most remember about my childhood are the outdoor games we played, the walks through the woods and fields of my family’s farm, and the times we spent together…It was a simpler time back in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Is it wrong to want to get just a little of that feeling back? Memories and Meaning don’t lie within the material things we own…Meaning lies within us. When you start to love your material things, you are loving things which can’t love you back. Love only that which can love you back! Ask yourself…How much is enough? What can you de-clutter in your life to reduce stress?

“Stress is the trash of modern life…we all generate it…and if you don’t dispose of it often, it will pile up and overtake your life” – Terri Guillemets

4). By slowing down we can take the time to discover our purpose and make the choice to fully live each day… In NASCAR there is a saying…”sometimes to have to slow down in order to go fast”.  We rarely slow down by choice, sometimes life intervenes and does the “slowing down” for us…whether by illness, job loss, or worse…Before something else intervenes on your behalf…make the conscious choice to slow down.

SLOW DOWN…and the “wants” you have been chasing just may come around and catch you.    *Excerpts taken from Stress is a Choice: 10 Simple Rules To Simplify Your Life… by David Zerfoss

Eddie Brown 2011

www.ICU-Coaching.com