Stress...

I found this note the other day saved in a folder from long ago, sent by my regional manager in 2007. (Incidentally, that year, I failed to follow its advice, but I've done much better since then.)

A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water & asked, “How heavy is this glass of water?” Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g. The lecturer replied, “The absolute weight doesn’t matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it.”

“If I hold it for a minute, that’s not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you’ll have to call an ambulance. In each case, it’s the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.”

He continued, “And that’s the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all of the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won’t be able to carry on. As with the glass of water, you 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.”

Some ways of dealing with the burdens of life:

• Accept that some days you’re the pigeon, and some days you’re the statue.
• Keep your words soft & sweet, in case you have to eat them.
• If you can’t be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.
• When everything’s coming your way, you are in the wrong lane.
• Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.