A little story about STRESS…
I’ve been waiting for this moment for a very long time that I don’t know how to start. I had been to a very interesting lecture about stress that I am dying to share it with everyone here. Well, here I am… still searching for the best words how to share these beauty tips of managing stress. People say that a long journey is begins from a one baby step… So, let’s talk about stress…
What is stress? Hmm… how can I describe this? Ok. Now I am stress…
Stress is a condition when you are under pressure. Everyday, everyone is dealing with a lot of stress. And when I say everyone, I mean everyone, including you and me. There is no need to be denial, because it is normal to be stress. Back to basic, all of us need some amount of stress to keep us going and to keep us doing what we have to do and to continue with our life duty. For example, in the morning, sometimes, the weather just so nice for us to keep sleeping and resting, the bed seems more comfortable than it usually does, and it just so difficult to keep the eyes open, and then when the urge of passing urine turn up and we just know that we have to wake up initially…then we start to keep going with our daily routine, and go to work. So, it means that stress is not a very bad thing after all isn’t it?
However, too much stress will cause dysfunction. Therefore we can divide stress into 2, good stress and bad stress. Which type of stress are you having now?
There are various ways how to deal with stress. I am a very stressful person myself. The good thing about it is it takes one to know one. And that is the beauty of it. Everything happens for a good reason. You don’t believe me, do you? I’ve heard of one story about this, and I heard it in an Indian version. Let me share it with you in my own version…
Once upon a time there was a king. He has a prime minister. This king loves hunting so much. Whenever he goes, he will bring his loyal prime minister with him. One day, he went hunting again. They went to a jungle. The jungle was supposed to have a lot of deer however they can see none. He was not happy with that and kept looking for the deer. Once he saw a white deer. Both of them followed the deer and the king drawn his bow. However, the arrow has missed. The deer ran away. He tried to get to the deer but end up injured his foot. He looked at his prime minister, and his prime minister said, “Everything happens for a good reason”. He was angry but he just kept it in his heart, this is his best prime minister and he needs to be patience. On the way back, they walked under a tree. Suddenly, there was a bird flying up and shit on his head. He was very angry. He looked at his prime minister again, and the prime minister repeated to him, “Everything happens for a good reason”. Now the king is mad. He went back to his country and put his prime minister in the prison. What good can a sprain ankle and bird’s “poo” make? Once he put the prime minister in the cell, he heard it once more time, “everything happens for a good reason”. He left his prime minister alone wondering what is going on with his prime minister. He must be losing his mind.
Few days have passed. And the king wanted to go hunting again. But now he is alone as his best man is now been in the prison. Seems that he loves hunting so much, he went alone to the jungle. He walked night and day and found a good place to hunt. However, he was end up getting caught by a tribe. Worse still, the tribe is the one that eats people (cannibal). They got ready a very large pot to cook the king. The king feels very scared but he tries to reason with the tribe’s people telling that he is not suitable to be a dish. He said that his body is not delicious, but the tribe has just ignored it. Apparently, the tribe is also care about the food they eat. The tribe’s leader had a quick check of the king to make sure that their “food” is healthy. And guess what… He has found the wound on the king’s foot. They change their mind and decided not going to eat the king. (So, that is the good thing of his injured foot). The tribe willing to let go of the king but they insist on cutting one of the king’s ear lobe as a token.
The king went back to his country. Now with one ear lobe less. Feeling really guilty to the prime minister, he went to see him in the prison. The prime minister just smiling back to him and say, “see, I’ve told you that everything happen for a good reason, thank god that I am in the cell, otherwise I might be eaten by the tribe because I do not have wound on my leg…” . The king released the prime minister and requested him to get back on working with him.
Here, I am going to give some tips of managing stress.
- Try to avoid stress. Do remember that running away will never solve any problem. What I mean by avoiding stress is try not to do what may give you headache at the end. For example, if you know that too little money will cause you stress, then, be smart at managing your money before you spend everything and have nothing at the end.
- If you cannot avoid stress, try to delay it. Let say you have heard a bad news just now. Do not get panic straight away. Let’s count 1, 2, 3….. Then you can get stress. So, starting from today, whenever we are facing with something stressful enough, let’s imagine that it is okay for awhile. Not everyone can master the art of being calm. But I still believe that all of us have the power to do it. We just need to search more inside our head to find the switch. Once you know how to open it, then you’ll know more how to handle your stress.
- If you cannot delay the stress, then … let’s be stress… but do not be too stress because you cannot think properly if you are too stress. You still need to find a solution and cannot run away. Many stressful events are future base and we always realize at the end that there is no need for us to get stress at all, but that is human nature. Whenever we have solved one problem, we will soon try to get another one. Got to admit that some people just cannot manage to get too peaceful. These people need something to occupy their mind. So, they get stress because that is what they want in life.
Let’s do this little exercise. Come on, it is fun. First, I want everyone here to wrinkle your forehead. At the same time, I want you to smile. Hmm…. How do you feel? Difficult isn’t it? Now, I want you to stop wrinkling your forehead, just continue smiling. How do you feel? It is more relax, am I correct? Some people have so many life events and they might find it very difficult to smile. So, you need to do this little exercise even more before you feel comfortable about smiling. Let say 10-15 minutes a day. Make sure that you do it somewhere in the bathroom or anywhere else that nobody will start staring at you wondering if there is something wrong with your head. You can do it while watching the mirror, or while reading books, or even while jogging in the park. Anywhere at all that can makes you feel comfortable.
I always do 2 things whenever I am stress, I will look at the trees and listen to the water pouring. Waterfall is always my favorite spot. Just try this first and see either it is working for you or not. I can give more tips but I guess these ones are good enough for today. If you really want to cleverly manage your stress, you have to start thinking along that way. Just make sure that the stress do not get over control and try to manage you instead. So, the take back home message is, everything happens for a good reason. Good luck.
Other related topic:
Tags: angry, happy, manage, smile, stress
Technorati Tags: angry, happy, manage, smile, stress
I have tried your ways to deal with stress before. It’s really useful! However, sometimes i still failed to deal with it. I will angry easily during that time.
.-= Cytogenetics and Cancer Research´s last blog ..Prevention of Breast Cancer =-.
Hi
If you are an organ recipient, would you be willing to share your story for a donor awareness project?