Let’s talk about STRESS

Everyone seems to be stressed out by something in this world we are living.

Stressing about money, stressing about the weather, about the economy, stressing about what other people say and do, stressing about what is or isn’t on TV, stressing about traffic, stressing about relationships, stressing about jobs, stressing about life in general… and the list goes on and on.

Stress has become a part of our everyday life. Stress is all around us. Wherever you go, wherever you look, whatever you do, you will encounter with stressful situations and stressful people. Turn on the TV and you will be bombarded with stress, go out and meet with your friends and you will be bombarded with stress. Go to work and you will see how much stress you will find there. Our jobs… a lot of stress is coming from our jobs. In conclusion: people are very stressful these days and we can see it, we can all feel it.

Why do we let stress to get us? Why do we allow ourselves to feel this way? We can’t always predict the future, most of the times we can’t. We need to let go of our need to control everything that happens to us and around us. Whatever will happen will happen. This doesn’t mean that we just stay and wait for our life to come to an end without doing anything with it. Stress is nothing else but our reaction to the constant changes that are taking place in our lives. We stress about that which we don’t know, we stress about new situations, we stress about things that happened, are happening and about things that might happen. We all do this on a regular base. We stress about what the future might bring and most of the time that which we stress about might never happen. It’s insane!

“I‘m an old man, and I‘ve known many great troubles, but most of them never happened.” ~ Mark Twain

We stress about situations we have no control over and we also stress about situations we have control over. Why in the world would we stress about something that is out of our control? It’s like going outside in the middle of a tornado and trying to fight it. How crazy is that? That is exactly what we do.

And if we have control over what might happen or is already happening, why should we worry? Why should we stress about it? It looks really stupid when you put it this way, right? We act crazy. Us humans are really crazy sometimes. We do crazy things, we say crazy things. We can get really crazy. I believe that we embraced stress a long time ago and it has now become a habit. Yes, you heard me. Stress has become a habit for many of us. It’s like an alarm that goes on every time something unfamiliar comes our way, every time we fear something.

So next time you are ready to jump into a stressful situation, next time you are experiencing stress, ask yourself this question: Why am I experiencing this? What is it that I am afraid of? What is it that I won’t allow myself to experience?

Know that there is a lesson in everything that happens to us and it`s because we haven’t mastered ourselves yet and that we still have so much to learn.

And now I want to share with you this beautiful story I have found on this amazing book called Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff that I have read a while ago written by Richard Carlson, enjoy.

“There once was a village that had among its people a very wise old man. The villagers trusted this man to provide them answers to their questions and concerns.

One day, a farmer from the village went to the wise man and said in a frantic tone, “Wise man, help me. A horrible thing has happened. My ox has died and I have no animal to help me plow my field! Isn’t this the worst thing that could have possibly happened?” The wise old man replied, “Maybe so, maybe not.” The man hurried back to the village and reported to his neighbors that the wise man had gone mad. Surely this was the worse thing that could have happened. Why couldn’t he see this?

The very next day, however, a strong, young horse was seen near the man’s farm. Because the man had no ox to rely on, he had the idea to catch the horse to replace the ox – and he did. How joyful the farmer was. Plowing the field had never been easier. He went back to the wise man to apologize. “You were right, wise man. Losing my ox wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened. It was a blessing in disguise! I would never have captured my new horse had that not happened.” The wise man replied once again, “Maybe so, maybe not.” Not again, thought the farmer. Surely the wise man had gone mad now.

But, once again, the farmer did not know what was to happen. A few days later the farmer’s son was riding the horse and was thrown off. He broke his leg and would not be able to help with the crop. Oh no, thought the man. Now we will starve to death. Once again, the farmer went to the wise man. This time he said, “How did you know that capturing my horse was not a good thing? You were right again. My son is injured and won’t be able to help with the crop. This time I’m sure that this is the worst thing that could have possibly happened. You must agree this time.” But, just as he had done before, the wise man calmly looked at the farmer and in a compassionate tone replied once again, “Maybe so, maybe not.” Enraged that the wise man could be so ignorant, the farmer stormed back to the village.

The next day troops arrived to take every able-bodied man to the war that had just broken out. The farmer’s son was the only young man in the village who didn’t have to go. He would live, while the others would surely die.

The moral of this story provides a powerful lesson. The truth is, we don’t know what’s going to happen we just think we do. Often we make a big deal out of something. We blow up scenarios in our minds about all the terrible things that are going to happen. Most of the time we are wrong. If we keep our cool and stay open to possibilities, we can be reasonably certain that, eventually, all will be well. Remember: maybe so, maybe not.”

~love, Luminita💫

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