Truth be told – today I am stressed. I don’t like how stress feels, and I don’t feel it often. So it’s glaringly bad when I do. I’m very aware that lots of people feel this way all the time, and that is heart breaking.
. . . But not stressful.
I think stress comes from trying to control things that you can’t control, while also not taking responsibility and action for the things you can control.
Other stressors are things like my unmet expectations or someone else’s unreasonable expectations of me. Generally those can be resolved with a conversation. It gets stressful for me when for whatever reason I can’t have that conversation. Sometimes we dodge the conversation because it’s scary, but we’re raising our blood pressure in the meantime. Not worth it.
When I was like 10 or 12 years old, my mom gave me a silver necklace with the Serenity Prayer on the pendant.
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
the courage to change the things that I can;
and the wisdom to know the difference.
My mom didn’t know that had anything to do with Alcoholics Anonymous – she just thought it was a great message for a kid. And it was. I wore that thing (cause it was shiny) and pondered that prayer a lot. The older I get the smarter it is. Accept the things I can’t change. Change the things I can. Learn the difference between the two.
Say the scary things. Ask for what you want. Do the work you need to do. Do the best you can. Do what you say you’re going to do. Then let yourself off the hook for the things you can’t control. Like the weather. And your allergies. Or that you’re tired. Accept it and rest. Accept the things you can’t change. Stress melts away.
Also, sometimes fun helps:
Thank you so much for being here. I am so very grateful.
You Are Mostly Water, and guess what that means for us?