Relax

Without going too much into personal details, it’s been a pretty stressful two weeks for me. It seems every so often despite the plans you make things go to hell to put it mildly. So while I was running around stomping out fires here and there I’d try and remind myself to breathe and relax.

I’m sure everyone reading this knows how easy that is (you can stop laughing now). Anyway, the stress and anxiety I was allowing myself to live was really affecting my work, my family, my sleep, and my health. Let me tell you, it wasn’t a pretty picture, which is why I wanted to tell this story.

Each of us faces some level of stress every day. Rather it’s in the drive to work or that deadline your boss moved up again or the child who throws a tantrum when you say no. We all have stresses and levels of anxiety we can handle. But, what if you’re pushed to the edge and even little stresses get to be too much. What do you do?

First off, I claim no cure all for stress and anxiety other than what I do. If you can rule out any physical problems, here are a few simple changes that work for me. First learn to take a break. It can by a walk around your office building or some quiet time in a corner of the break room, the point is move away from what’s stressing you.

Learn to breathe, in through the nose and out through the mouth. Taking a moment to breathe through the stress can make all the difference. Then next, to help prevent the stresses from coming in the first place, learn to give up.

You see, one of the biggest things that create stress for me is trying to control everything. (This may be why I’m a one-man operation.) Even when I work in team situations, I tend to take change; and the sad part is, most teammates let me.

Realizing that you can’t control it all was one of the greatest realizations I ever had. When I realized the world didn’t fall apart when I backed away, a great amount of weight fell from my shoulders.

So to recap, stress is something me all face. But when the stress begins to harm our lives it’s time for some changes. Those changes may require backing away or taking a break. Then realizing that allowing yourself to back away is okay. That trying to control everything is an impossible task for any of us. So relax.