BY MARILYN C. ARAYATA
STORIES about highly stressed personalities who developed serious stress related illnesses remind us to find ways to reduce our stress.
How many of us get heavily stressed due to our own habits? The thing is, they are hard to break. If we really like to make life less stressful, there are habits that we need to improve and those that we need to discard. Consider the following: When tempted to accomplish more than what your mind and body can take, think of how getting sick will affect you and your family. “Health is wealth.” Although not everything is under our control, we can decrease our chances of developing a serious illness by giving ourselves a little leeway when fixing our daily schedule. Is something truly necessary? Can it be re-scheduled or deleted?
Keeping things labelled and recorded helps reduce stress, too. It makes retrieving things and documents fast and easy. The most organized people I know have cabinets, bins, and labels for almost everything. Record medical appointments, prescriptions, examinations, as well as maintenance and repair work. Record even the date you acquired and started using something. This way, you can calculate how long it will last and prepare for replacement and replenishment.
Never rely on a single person or a single service provider. Always look for options. What if somebody suddenly becomes unavailable? What if a service becomes inefficient?
Learn to ignore the remarks and actions of insensitive, controlling, and toxic people. Arguing with them is useless. Never stoop to their level. Live your best life. As Og Mandino said, “Your only limitations are those you set up in your mind, or permit others to set up for you.”
