I met someone new recently. Someone I didn’t expect to meet and someone I didn’t want to get to know. You see unfortunately they only bring the bad and never the good. They always hold you back rather than propel you forward. So who did I meet ? … stress.

For the first time in my life I’ve been properly stressed. That is I can feel it affecting my health. And that’s not good !And making it worse was that a wise mentor in my life told me the sad, honest news … “Jeremy if you don’t learn to deal with this now then you’ve got problems because I hate to tell you but it will get worse when you add kids, a mortgage, school fees, more responsibility at work and so on and so forth.”

So, I am determined to draw the line in the sand and for this not to be an influence on my life ongoing.  So here’s some thoughts on how I’m going to do this. Maybe they will help you !

Perspective
I live in Manly / in Sydney / in Australia. I catch the jetcat to and from work. I have great friends. I get paid well. I am healthy. I have a great family. Do I really have much to complain about ? From now I’m determined to actively remember those who are far worse off than me around the world and be grateful for my blessings when I start to stress about the small things. A bit more perspective might do me the world of good.

The buffer of sport / exercise
I’ve always taken this for granted as I’ve always been exercising. I’ve always had a goal. I’ve always had an avenue to take my stress out and turn my mind off. To have something to look forward to. Something to focus on. I may have retired recently and been enjoying a rest from so much exercise after 20 years, but I’m not sure I can afford to. I need that seratonin ! 🙂 It is a buffer between stress (in this case work stress) and me. (And it will make me eat better which will also help).

Pray more
I’m a christian and my creator Jesus says “be anxious for nothing, but by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God, and he will guard your heart and MIND.” About time I did this more I reckon.

Deep breathe
Most of our breathing is so shallow which is why when we concentrate on our breath in something like a yoga class, we feel so good. So I intend to take some deep breaths more when feeling stressful. Count from 10 to 0 with each deep breath.

NLP – Emotionally disconnect
This is the hard one when you’re my personality. When I’m into something, I’m into it so the theory of just switching off is way more easily said than done. But, I am a certified NLP practitioner so I propose to start to use it in this scenario. To associate work with some humour and with good thoughts and emotions. Work isn’t worth it. See this as a time when I am going to build up my capacity for future stress. So that when those things start to bug me I can actively and consciously not let it spiral me downwards. To accept the things I can’t change and change the things I can and to have the wisdom to know the difference.

Kiss more
I cant say I’ve ever been stressed in the middle of a kiss so this must do the trick pretty well. More kissing required I think ! 🙂

Any suggestions or thoughts. I’d be very keen to hear them !!!