Stress… we all know about it; we all experience it and you may even say that some of us are life time experts in it. Yet, with all the exertion of energy spent timelessly on stress, where does it get it us? Are we happier for it? Does it cause us to create change to reduce or even alleviate it from our lives? No, generally we put up with it because it is part of life and there is this social expectation that we would not be normal if we didn’t have some of it in our lives.

Would we be “living” if we alleviated stress from our lives?

Physically a little bit of stress is healthy. This is a proven fact, however this does then create the question of what is stress?

• Is it concerning ourselves twenty four hours a day how we are going to get ends to meet?
• Is it dedicating ourselves to our families or passions with one single focus, never deterring from our mission to complete the task irrelevant of the resources it may take?

Is stress having too much on our plates because we have the belief that if we didn’t we would not be living up to our potential?

Some of these are actually ironic in that even as we define what it is to us the stress is created not in the task, the stress is created in the belief that we would fail if we did not achieve whatever it is we have decided to place upon our shoulders without ever considering if this is realistic or even fair to ourselves.

And then, this raises another fear. “If I don’t do it, it won’t get done”. The very common placement that it is our responsibility to ensure everything is completed or achieved even at the expense of our health and well being.

This however does not detract the seriousness of stress and how many of us suffer from it. This article is touching on a very small part of what has become otherwise acceptable within our day to day.

So, where is the fine line where we can maintain a healthy level of stress without the added pressure of the fear of failure, the fear that we wouldn’t be fulfilling our obligations as parents, partners, employees and bosses or whatever it is that we place upon ourselves that puts us in such a place of unhealthy frenzy and discomfort?

Perhaps it is having the awareness of knowing when to call it a day and be able to acknowledge yourself for all the wonderful and amazing things you have achieved in the day.

Perhaps it is having the belief that who you are right now provides you enough for what you need in achieving whatever your day requires. The belief that the only person you need to prove your abilities to are yourself and if you can accept that you perfect right now irrelevant of all else.

What difference would this make to your level of stress?

Perhaps stress isn’t about the workload we put upon ourselves or the pressure we place to deliver unrealistic things, perhaps stress is about what we really think about ourselves and how we see ourselves in the bigger picture.

Nelson Mandela had a quote that similarly stated that we fear our success not our failure. With this in mind, perhaps the stress we harbour is the fear that we may actually succeed, move into a place of unknown and become something unfamiliar. The fear of losing control. The fear…

What would it take to reduce your stress?

Try something different. When you are having a stressful day and there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel, stop for five minutes and do something for yourself. Be it grabbing a coffee, sitting in the sun or even going for a short walk. By changing your state of mind, your environment momentarily and focusing on what is important – you, it may provide you with a chance to take a breath and realise that only you can control how you feel and you can choose to feel great.

Life is full of ups and downs, challenges and opportunities. It is up to you what you do with it, how much you take on and what demands you place on yourself.

What are you going to decide the next time stress gets the better of you?

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