Too Much Stress

I don’t remember who told me this, but when I’m stressing out (something most of us do too often) I try to follow it: “Don’t sweat the petty stuff and don’t pet the sweaty stuff.”

Let’s face it, life can come at you pretty hard these days. I’m still looking for a job but that doesn’t stop the bills from coming in. Listening to the news I know I’m not the only one trying to make ends meet. Money must be one of the biggest stressors in a lot of people’s lives. There are so many things that add stress: your job (or lack of one), your family, medical issues, bills, news, and who knows how many more things I could list. No wonder so many people have trouble sleeping or battle high blood pressure.

But are we truly dealing with what is really important? Probably not. It is so easy to let things get the in way of what you should be doing or thinking about. I think it’s something about not being able to see the forest for the trees. Life is about the journey, not the destination. We need to remember to try and enjoy our journey.

OK you say, where in this [insert expletive here] world is there something to enjoy? Well, I can’t tell you. Instead just stop for a minute and look around you. Let me give you an example: I had to drive somewhere during rush-hour traffic. The road was more of a slow moving parking lot than an intrastate highway. I was stressed out because I was going to be late, people kept trying to cut me off, the person in the car in front of me wasn’t going fast enough, etc. Then I looked out my window at the concrete barrier between the two sides of the highway. There growing from a crack in the concrete was a small plant (OK, weed), but it had a lovely bunch of purple flowers on it. My point is this: take a minute and look around you – even in the midst of concrete and asphalt you can find something beautiful.

I’m not saying that you need to go out and start looking for flowers. What I am advising is that you stop for a minute or two during your day and look for something that makes you feel happy. For example, animals can be great therapy. Studies have found that petting a dog or cat can lower blood pressure. Here’s an article that has quite a bit of information on how animals can improve our lives. Some other ideas: share a joke with a friend, read a cartoon, look out the window, hug a family member, or read a book. Want some more ideas? Check out this Web site for a long list of suggestions.

What’s something that I do? Well, one thing that I enjoy is photography, so if I can, I go take pictures. Here’s one that I took the other day: