Stress ~ A Humorous View ~

Recently I went to dinner with some friends.  One of them is a motivational speaker and as we were sitting at the table discussing stress, setting and reaching goals, and how to deal with life in general, she smiled and held up a glass of water.  The water line was at the middle of the glass and of course we just knew she was going to ask us the classic question "Is this glass half full or half empty?"  But, she fooled us when she merely asked, "How heavy do you think this glass of water is?"

We all looked at one another with an expression of humor, a bit baffled, I may add.  Our answers were anywhere from 6oz. to 20oz.

She waited patiently for us to answer then replied. "Actually, the exact weight doesn't matter. It really depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute, then no problem, right? If I hold it for an hour, I'm likely to have a muscle ache in my left arm.  If I hold it for a day, I'll probably end up in the Emergency Room of the nearest hospital. But, to make my point, regardless of how long I hold it, it's the same weight, only the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes." She smiled at us then nodded and continued, "And that's how it is with stress.  Think of stress as a heavy burden. If  we carry our burden around all the time, no matter how small, or big for that matter, sooner or later our burden becomes increasingly heavy, and we won't be able to carry on."    

She stopped speaking for a moment to let us all digest what she had just told us before continuing.

A burden is like this glass of water, we have to put it down for a while, and rest before holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden - holding stress longer and better each time we practice this.  So, in the early evening we really should practice to put all of our burdens down. We need to lean to not carry them through the evening and into the night, but rather to pick them up again tomorrow.

She finally put the glass of water down then reiterated, "Whatever burdens you're carrying now, let them down for a moment. Relax, pick them up later after you've rested. Life is short. Enjoy it and the now 'supposed' stress that you've carried around is conquered!"

We were quiet for a while, I suppose taking in what she said, and I guess looking rather befuddled.  This caused her to laugh and she left it with this. "Here are twenty things about life that are basically true. I'll email them to you so the next time you're stressing out about not meeting a goal, a deadline or just life in general pull it up and read.  Trust me, something in that list will make you chuckle and lighten your load. I hope!" She grinned the proceeded with the following list:

1.)  Accept the fact that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue!

2.)  Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.

3.)  Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.

4.)  Drive carefully.  It's not only cars that can be recalled by their Maker.

5.)  If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.

6.) If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.

7.) It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.

8.) Never buy a car you can't push.

9.) Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won't have a leg to stand on.

10.) Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.

11.) Since it's the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late.

12.) The second mouse gets the cheese.

13.) When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.

14.) Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.

15.) You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person.

16.) Some mistakes are too much fun to make only once.

17.) We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have  weird names and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box.

18.) A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

19.) Have an awesome day and know that someone has thought about you today.

20.) It was I, your friend!

I printed these out and keep them close to my desk so I can look at them now and then.  Thank you Caroline for sharing this with us at dinner the other night, and allowing me to share it with my friends out there in blog land.

Go forth and have a beautiful and productive day and know I Love Y'all.  Hope I helped, and made you smile.!!

8-) ♥