Stress

You woke up late, the kids aren’t ready for school, the car won’t start because the battery is dead. Beginnings of a wonderful day, huh? It’s a typical scene in many households across the nation, not to mention across the world. Yet, you feel as though you’re the only one that it happens to. Not quite. Every normal human (regardless of how “mellow” or “nice” you may seem), comes across stress every single day of our lives. We just usually write it off as bad luck, just “a normal day” or that things aren’t going our way. Truth is that we all deal with stress and we all handle it differently. Most of us would be in a panic, screaming for things to get done and/or change, raising our blood pressure and heart rate at things that are out of our own control. You can’t turn back the hands of time to get up at the time you were supposed to, right? Of course not. Nobody has that ability just yet so that’s not an option. So you ask yourself now, “What am I supposed to do now?”. It’s easier to say this than to do it but you need to go with the flow. Not much else that you can do. Or is there something I can do?

Short of trying to build that time machine or even trying to find parts for it, you need to look at all of your options. Yes, there are always options to every situation. Like there are different outcomes, there are different options. At times the options are more limited than others but all in all you still have options to consider. For example, the day that I began this article with. The first option we would think of is to just give up on the day. The kids are going to school without breakfast and you’re calling your boss to say that you can’t make it to work. Who needs more stress by going to work that day with the way your day already started? It’s the most likely choice that a lot of us would make. Think about the outcome of that option. Well, your kids could fall asleep in class from not having breakfast and be starving until lunch time. Not to mention that you’ll be losing out on a day of work so your check will be a little smaller unless you have a chance to do overtime to make the day up.

More stress from one very stressful morning. How about this option. You call in and tell your boss that you’re going to be late while you put the car’s battery on the charger (or try to get a charger or new battery) and the kids get ready. The kids will get to school a little late but they’ll be fine, at least they ate breakfast. You’ll end up getting to work a couple hours late but you haven’t lost out on the entire day. The outcome of the second option is a lot better than the first. Don’t you think? Whether or not we choose to resort to our other options is our own choice. We always have a choice in every little thing that we decide to do in life.

OK, so now you realize that you always have another option. What about those situations are totally beyond your control? You must be saying, “Didn’t you just tell me that I always have an option?”. I did say that. You also have to realize that you have a choice how to react to a situation. Do you usually get very irate, moderately upset or go with the flow? That’s an option too if you haven’t seen it before. Let’s start with an example again. Your family member has a terminal illness and is told by the doctors that he or she isn’t expected to live very long. You’re mad at the world that the doctors have come up with this diagnosis yet you can’t change their opinions either. What kind of options do you have? Obviously you can’t control this situation. Or can you? Here’s this option.

nstead of being mad at the world, spend as much time as you can with that family member. Can’t do that either? Then call him or her to check on things and to offer help like picking up the dry cleaning or going to the store for them on your way home from work. Still a no go. Well, e-mail is readily available to most homes and e-cards are free. Not personal enough. Write out a quick note & drop it in the mail. When that person leaves this world, you’ll be thankful for any little thing that you were able to for them and not totally regret not having enough time with them. See, there is a choice or option to everything.

Still feeling like things are going haywire and beyond your control? Feeling like stress is a huge weight on your shoulders every second of the day and night? It may be other factors making you feel that way. Are you taking a new medication? Are you sleeping enough? Maybe you are suffering from a mental illness. Having a mental illness such as depression or being bipolar doesn’t mean that you need to live the rest of your life in an institution. While it is a scary illness, there are ways to control it so that your life is “normal” and you are able to succeed in your goals. Medication is one of the most used methods, alone or with other methods such as meditation or psychotherapy. There are still options when you are feeling that way so do not give up. The first step is to recognize that you do have an illness. This is probably the hardest step to do because admitting that something is wrong with you is not easy to do. No one wants to admit that they feel like they are losing their minds. Yet, there are millions of people that deal with this illness and succeed in living their lives as they want to with the help of medication and/or other methods. Sometimes it’s almost impossible to tell that someone has a mental illness since the different degrees of it vary so much. Does this sound like you in any way?

Talk to someone that can give you a different view of your life. It’s easier to see things in someone else’s perspective. It doesn’t have to be a psychologist. There are low cost clinics or even your pastor, priest, rabbi or other person you trust and feel comfortable telling things to that you could go to for little or no cost at all. Keeping things inside of you is the worst thing to do. You will see how much better you feel once you have told your side of the story. Physical activity can put things in perspective sometimes and help to relieve stress until you are able to talk to someone. Take a yoga class. Go for a walk in the park, woods or other peaceful place. Meditate in somewhere quiet. It doesn’t need to cost a lot for it to be good for you.

This is only “the tip of the iceberg” so to speak when dealing with stress. The first step is yours to take. We all have choices when we make a decision to do anything. Preparing for the outcome is what we never do before making that decision. Yet, we continue to make decisions because it is a necessary part of life. We live in a world that isn’t stress free. Be prepared for everything because whether or not it was a good decision, it may be the best decision you ever made.