Harness Stress
Emotional Tools for Better Living, Relax and Enjoy, Stress
Stress has many factors on the body, but if you can learn to allow the stress to push you when you need it and release it when it’s time to relax, then you’ll be able to use this power to benefit your life instead of allowing your stress to bully you.
There are times when I seem to allow stress to push me around. I’m working on harnessing its power, but that hasn’t been easy. I’ve come a long way in the past couple of years and the most notable moment of victory has been during a presentation to my co-workers. I had to explain to the entire company what I was trying to accomplish in marketing to young people. Since improving my public speaking skills at Toastmasters, I was no longer terrified of speaking to an audience. I used the stress to create excitement to perform well. I practiced alone and in front of my wife, until I got it to where I could handle almost any question. After a few hours I was ready for my audience.
I breezed through the presentation and accomplished a great feat. I used the stress to achieve a level of personal development that I would never have been able to do a few years before. If I worried too much about impressing my colleagues then I would never have been able to make such a quality presentation.
Look at all the accomplishments in your life.
Maybe you are:
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Making more money then you’ve ever done in your past.
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Receiving an A on an exam or paper because you worked your brain into a controlled frenzy that helped you achieve your goal.
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Finding the love of your life.
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Raising children to be happy and balanced.
Whatever it is you’ve accomplished, you’ve done it by not being lazy. You used stress to help you succeed when you needed it most.
I’ve been able to use stress to push me, but I’ve had a difficult time releasing its energy and relaxing when I’ve wanted to, not when the work is done. I’ve practiced many techniques such as Yoga, meditation, and walking to help me release my stress after a tough situation. The technique that has worked best for me is simply enjoying the moment. Whenever I practice a relaxation technique I make sure that I stay involved in everything it offers.
There is only so much stress that one person can handle before they need to let go and enjoy their family, friends or hobbies. You can’t work 20 hours a day, so accept this fact and allow yourself to enjoy where you are. If you have a report to finish and you need to get home, then write a note of where you left off and make a plan to come into work a little earlier to take care of it the next day.
Letting go of my worried thoughts is still difficult, so I practice enjoying each moment. When I am with my wife and my thoughts trail off to that pesky report, I make sure to recognize this and get back to enjoying the time with her. Other times my thoughts will trail back to work when I am playing with my dog or writing a poem. I make sure to bring my focus back whenever it strays and I keep bringing it back again and again, training myself to enjoy the moment. Over time I learn to focus on my home life instead of allowing the stress of work to distract me from my wife, rest, or hobbies.
You can learn to harness and release stress by taking the time to be playful with the energy. It may take a while for you to master its vast power, but I guarantee you’ll be glad you made the time to turn stress into a tool that supports your life.
Click on How to Balance Out Your Work Stress to learn more about improving your stress development.
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Karl @ January 16, 2008