Stressed Turn-About!
©Allen Merritt (2015)
I don’t know anyone who hasn’t
experienced stress. Sometimes when I am
in the thick of it I don’t even realize I am stressed. I just keep plugging
along at whatever task I have before me. Later I feel my body tighten up (especially
in my shoulders) and feel the need to relax with a glass of vino, a hot shower
or hot tub.
Sometimes stress just creeps up on us
without letting us know. We're so caught up in everything we don't see it
coming. Other times we feel it and know it BIG TIME!
According to Wikepedia¹, stress is our
body’s way of reacting to a challenge. Sometimes stress can be good, but often
it is viewed as bad. For example, when trying to build up your body at the gym,
increasing weights (a form of stress) will eventually increase muscle. But this
takes time and is done in small increments.
When stress is related more to the cognitive and emotional, it can lead
to negative outcomes. And, nobody really wants that, do they?
One of the things I like to fall into is
finding ways to turn things around. When I find a way to do just that, I often
smile or laugh and generally feel better about something. That’s why I like to
write about positive methodologies and outcomes.
Needless-to-say, one of my common
answers for discussing the idea of being “stressed” out is to turn it around.
If you are a person with a sweet tooth and love desserts, then you will
appreciate this.
I love a little sweetness in my life.
Not too much. In fact, when I order my iced mocha at the coffee shop I always
ask them to reduce the chocolate by two-thirds the amount. Instead of six pumps
I get two pumps. Otherwise, it is too sweet. You know what they say about
getting too much of a good thing!
Anyway, I enjoy desserts of all sorts: ice
cream, yogurt, pie, moist cakes, pastries, cobblers and other fine delectable
treats. The reason I point this out is not to go hog wild crazy on consuming
too many sweets. (After all, there is a limit in order to stay healthy.) And, I
am not suggesting that every time a person feels stressed they gobble down a
gallon of sugary sweet goo. In fact, I am not suggesting that eating sweets is
the answer to relieving stress at all!
What am I saying?
I am saying to turn it around. Think of
the situation in a new light, a positive one, of course! Then you will begin to
find relief with whatever is stressing you out.
For me, I can begin to smile a little when
I feel stressed, because I literally take the word “stressed” and turn it
around and think of something I like which are “desserts.”
You see what I did there?
Turn around the word “Stressed” and it
automatically becomes “Desserts.”
Now, isn’t that sweet!
It’s a start. We all need something to help
us stop, look, listen, breathe, become more aware and look at a larger more
objective picture. Therein lies the possibility of a solution even if it is a
temporary solution. Moreover, it is an
opportunity to chill and not allow those stressors get the best of us. Give
yourself a little bit of a break from it all before “it” begins to break you.
Have you ever heard the saying, “You are
too blessed to be stressed”? Well, maybe
we are too blessed to be stressed. But, if by chance you are stressed, remember
to turn it around and have some just desserts. Do something sweet for yourself.
In conclusion, when you feel stressed
think of your favorite desserts!
In other words, take a moment for
yourself. You deserve it! We all do.
Cheers!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stress_%28biology%29¹
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