Put Your Stress Down Before It Gets Too Heavy to Carry…And Laugh Often <3

The article below was sent to me in an email from a good friend who thought that I would enjoy it…and she was right!! Stress can weigh us down…in fact it DOES weight us down. We need to develop different strategies for putting it down periodically, in the evening or whenever we can. If you do not ever let it go, it will exhaust you and wear out your soul and your spirit, and that is not our goal here. Life is short. It has its ups and downs, certainly. But I know for certain that we were not meant to be haggard and exhausted and stressed out of our minds all of the time. That is not the point of life at all.

After reading the article below, please think about how you can put your stress down while you work on ways to diminish the stress overall. We need more cowbell, more tambourine, and more laughter. I’m not saying that we can just ignore our responsibilities and go skipping down the yellow brick road. However, make time to take a deep breath, dance around the kitchen, be silly with a child, volunteer, and let go of the need to control every outcome. When something overwhelms me (and trust me…I definitely get overwhelmed sometimes!) I write down what the issue is, what action I can take to resolve the issue (and if there are other people that I need to pull in for help), which parts of the issue I do not have control over, and then I take the action that is necessary and take a deep breath and let it go. And, most of the time this really works. To “let go” I may run on my treadmill, laugh with my kids, play with my dog, talk to a friend, or blast the music and dance around. My kids know life isn’t perfect. They certainly know I am not perfect. But, they also know that I am doing my best, that I try not to sweat the small stuff, and when I am ready to let go, there will be music.

Remember to dance!!

A Great Lesson on Stress

A young lady confidently walked around the room while leading and explaining stress management to an audience with a raised glass of water. Everyone knew she was going to ask the ultimate question, ‘half empty or half full?’… She fooled them all …. “How heavy is this glass of water?” she inquired with a smile.

Answers called out ranged from 8 oz. To 20 oz.

She replied , “The absolute weight doesn’t matter. It depends on how long I hold it.

If I hold it for a minute, that’s not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have an ache in my right arm.

If I hold it for a day, you’ll have to call an ambulance. In each case it’s the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.” She continued, “and that’s the way it is with stress. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won’t be able to carry on.”

“As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we’re refreshed, we can carry on with the burden – holding stress longer and better each time practiced.

So, as early in the evening as you can, put all your burdens down. Don’t carry them through the evening and into the night… Pick them up tomorrow.

1 * Accept the fact that some days you’re the pigeon, and some days you’re the statue!

2 * Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.

3 * Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.

4 * Drive carefully… It’s not only cars that can be recalled by their Maker.

5 * If you can’t be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.

6 * If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.

7 * It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.

8 * Never buy a car you can’t push.

9 * Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won’t have a leg to stand on.

10 * Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance.

11 * Since it’s the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late.

12 * The second mouse gets the cheese.

13 * When everything’s coming your way, you’re in the wrong lane.

14 * Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.

16 * Some mistakes are too much fun to make only once.

17 * We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box.

18 * A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

19 * Have an awesome day and know that someone has thought about you today.

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY

20 *Save the earth….. It’s the only planet with chocolate!*

**Be the kind of person that when your feet hit the floor each morning the devil says~~ “Oh Crap, She’s up!”