Whether it's time off between jobs, moving to college, or lounging on a Saturday morning, my brain is always working overtime, trying to figure out what is on my to-do list and what are my plans for like next day, week, month, year, life.
My body reacts to stress in very interesting ways.
For the first five weeks I was away at college, I spent about $100 on medicine for about 4 different "illnesses." I was so stressed out that I woke up one morning and my eye was literally swollen shut. I still have dreams about being late to class in high school. I wake up in a panic that it's the end of my last college semester and somehow I've managed to forget that I was enrolled in a history class that I haven't been to all semester. For the last two years, I've been having stress dreams about work.
It seems like every where I look, and everyone I talk to is dealing with some amount of "stress" in their life. Expecting a second child, unbearable working conditions/hours, studying for a test/class, unexpected bills, unexpected illnesses, horrible bosses, or any other life change -- big or small. Why do we spend so much effort worrying about things? Whether it's worrying about something you can change or worrying about something out of your control, what is the point of worrying? If it's out of your control, there is no use worrying. What will happen, will happen. All you can change is your reaction to the situation. If it something you can change, why stress over it? Instead of being stressed out about a job you hate, why don't you get a new job?
I think some people are better at this than others. For me, when work gets too stressful, I just want to shake the person on the other end of my frustration and yell, "it's not that serious!" Now, please don't take this attitude if you are a doctor and your stress comes from saving a person's life. That is serious. But for most of us, in our everyday lives, with our everyday stresses, it just really is not that serious.
Sometimes it's a good reminder. Is my house a mess? Yes. Am I frustrated with my job/boss? Yes. Am I concerned about failing a test? Yes. Are these things serious? No. Not in the grand scheme of my life. I can change all of these things on my own and I can reframe the way I handle their innate "stress" by reminding myself.
It's Not That Serious.
For the first five weeks I was away at college, I spent about $100 on medicine for about 4 different "illnesses." I was so stressed out that I woke up one morning and my eye was literally swollen shut. I still have dreams about being late to class in high school. I wake up in a panic that it's the end of my last college semester and somehow I've managed to forget that I was enrolled in a history class that I haven't been to all semester. For the last two years, I've been having stress dreams about work.
It seems like every where I look, and everyone I talk to is dealing with some amount of "stress" in their life. Expecting a second child, unbearable working conditions/hours, studying for a test/class, unexpected bills, unexpected illnesses, horrible bosses, or any other life change -- big or small. Why do we spend so much effort worrying about things? Whether it's worrying about something you can change or worrying about something out of your control, what is the point of worrying? If it's out of your control, there is no use worrying. What will happen, will happen. All you can change is your reaction to the situation. If it something you can change, why stress over it? Instead of being stressed out about a job you hate, why don't you get a new job?
I think some people are better at this than others. For me, when work gets too stressful, I just want to shake the person on the other end of my frustration and yell, "it's not that serious!" Now, please don't take this attitude if you are a doctor and your stress comes from saving a person's life. That is serious. But for most of us, in our everyday lives, with our everyday stresses, it just really is not that serious.
Sometimes it's a good reminder. Is my house a mess? Yes. Am I frustrated with my job/boss? Yes. Am I concerned about failing a test? Yes. Are these things serious? No. Not in the grand scheme of my life. I can change all of these things on my own and I can reframe the way I handle their innate "stress" by reminding myself.
It's Not That Serious.
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