Perspective on Stress Management

From Carol: A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and 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 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.”

“So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down. Don’t carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens you’re carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can.” “Relax; pick them up later after you’ve rested. Life is short. Enjoy it!”

And then he shared some ways of dealing with the burdens of life:

• Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.
• If you can’t be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.
• It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.
• Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance.
• The second mouse gets the cheese.
• When everything’s coming your way, you’re in the wrong lane.
• You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person.
• Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
• 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.
• A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

Helpful Books/Links/Resources for A Perspective on Stress Management:

• My Favorite Stress Management technique as of 3/73/23: https://www.tapwithbrad.com/videos

Perspective on Stress Management can be found in the following books:

• Supervision in the Helping Professions (Page 30) by Peter Hawkins and Robin Shohet © 2007
• I Fail to Miss Your Point (Page 190) by  Jim O’Bryon © 2007
• Parent Smart from the Heart: Empowering the Parent Generation (Page 46) by Derek Randel © 2007
• Can’t Take It: Living in the Short Grass (Page 64) by David Smith © 2007
• Growing Up in California (Page 81) by Bob Phillips © 2008
• The World’s Greatest Email (Page 233) by Sue Shifrin-Cassidy © 2007
• Internet Wisdom: the Best of the Internet E-mail Wit and Wisdom (Page 134) by Greg S. Kessler © 2007