Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Great perspective on stress

Stress

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.'

So, my friend, Put down anything that may be a burden to you right now....

Don't pick it up again until after you've rested a while.

Here are some great ways of dealing with the burdens of life:

* Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue.

* If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.

* The second mouse gets the cheese.

* Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.

1 comment:

Jennifer said...

Yes, I will put down a few glasses of water tonight before I crawl into bed Janina and hope to find myself 'refreshed'. Thank you for giving me pause.