Taming Stress
Stress can wrap around our lives, and squeeze the joy out, before we know it … unless we tame it first.
To start your day off right, here’s a simple 10-step check list for taming stress.
1 – Decide YOU are in control. Stress is multiplied when we let others run our show. More often than not we get angry when we give into the direction or mastery of someone else or a situation and allow them to dictate who we are and our response. Decide this morning – no one can take away your power to control your mind … just do it.
2 – Love yourself first, so you can love others … when we have issues with ourself it spills over onto others – whether it’s yuckiness, unhappiness, or unforgiveness it can end up creating toxic situations throughout our day. So, get up in the morning, give yourself credit for being wonderful, grab ahold of some contentment, forgive yourself of what you did or didn’t do yesterday, and make up your mind that TODAY is the first day of the rest of your life and you’re going to love IT – your life.
A – Both 1 and 2 are in essence done with a quiet time of meditation and prayer. Take care of yourself first. Prayer in the morning and the plea for forgiveness, guidance and direction is indispensable to a stress-free day.
3 – Get your “I love yous” and “Bless yous” taken care of. You have to admit the day will just get more and more burdened with stress if we leave our loved ones feeling like they have done something awful. If our spouse leaves us in the morning in anger, or our kids get on the bus or out of the car feeling like they let us down then we should feel terrible. Our inner circle must feel blessed by us for before the rest of our day is of any significance. Our education, our careers, our external relationships are all secondary to this group of people we call family. They should and must be our center.
4 – Have a plan. You know there’s things that have to be done – some are screaming for attention today, and others can wait until tomorrow. Some ‘to-dos’ are a given each and every day but others crop up as we live our lives. Figure out what absolutely has to be done today and make your list, fill in your agenda … of course the best way to work this is to know last night what has to be done today. Some families work best with a large ‘family calendar’ that is gone over at the beginning of each week so everyone knows the expectation of the upcoming week. Figure out what works best for your loved ones and develop a routine.
5 – Work your plan. It isn’t just figuring out what works best, it also is the follow-through. A reputation as someone who keeps your word is essential to a stress-free lifestyle.
6 – Decide that ‘alternate plans’ are just fine. No matter how carefully we create our plans we have to remember life is full of the unanticipated – and when we make up our minds that ‘out of the blue’ occurrences in life are no big deal then living is much easier.
7 - Tackle biggest, baddest “to dos” early in the day. If you know you’re going to have to make that call, write that check, deliver that bad news – whatever – and you just do it NOW then the rest of the day can be enjoyed with a sense of fulfillment instead of lived in a sense of dread. The result? Less stress!
8 – Know your limits and set them up. (time, finances, energy, etc.) You know yourself and your family. Rein it in. Don’t make plans and promises that over extend your limits. It’s okay to say “No” to some events, things, and even people. It’s when stretch ourselves to the limit that stress becomes unbearable – you and everyone can suffer for it.
9 – Give yourself and others a ‘break’. Smile instead of growl. Sometimes we just growl and grumble our way through the day and in reality it doesn’t make us feel better – and it certainly doesn’t do those around us any good. Venting is not a good thing when it spills out like hot lava on others. Instead, be gracious, be generous with empathy – treat others like you’d love to be treated. Smile.
10 – Celebrate all the positives of the day and end it in Thanks. At the end of the day, when all is said and done … count your blessings! Give thanks for food, shelter, and clothing – for the essentials and then notice all the fluff and be thankful. The truth of the matter is, if we start looking for the positive and sharing that goodness with others, life in general is going to be a lot more stress-free.
So, there you have it – a 10 step formula for Taming Stress. Are YOU running the show or is Stress?