Reducing Stress Part 2

You have so much to do you just want to DO NOTHING
Some days you just have to do nothing. Other days it's time for a plan!
Words to live by (click here and come back and read)

I love this story:

A man came home from work and found his 3 children outside, still in their pyjamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn around garden, The door of his wife's car was open, as was the front door to the house and no
sign of the dog, walking in the door, he found ...an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, the throw rug was against one wall, In the front room the TV was on loudly with the cartoon channel, the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing. In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door. He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she might be ill, or that something serious had happened. He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door. As he peered inside he found wet towels, scummy soap and more toys strewn over the floor. Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls. As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in the bed in her pyjamas, reading a novel... She looked up at him, smiled and asked how his day went. He looked at her bewildered and asked, 'What happened here today?' She again smiled and answered, 'You know every day when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world do I do all day?...
''Yes," was his incredulous reply..
She answered, 'Well, today I didn't do it.' ♥

So you do this occasionally....but what about the rest of the time?  What do you do to reduce your stress.

Prioritize you to do list:

• Easy to do with a big impact
• Easy to do with a small impact
• Hard to do with a big impact
• Hard to do with an easy impact

and you do your to-do list in this order.  Everybody's definition of "easy to do" and "impact" are different.  Personally unloading the dryer and/or dishwasher fall under the HARD TO DO column and I despise these chores so much it doesn't matter the impact.  

This can be done at home or at work.  No matter what is on your "to do" list and no matter where it is put it in these categories and tackle each one at a time.  The easy to do with a big impact list...once it is completed you will feel so much better because you accomplished a BIG IMPACT.  

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Reducing Stress: Part 1

If you have been following this blog you know about good stress vs. bad stress.  Over the next few blogs we are going to discuss some simple things you can do to reduce stress in your life.




Negative out is negative in.  
We all have that friend who are mostly negative.  Everything in their life is negative and they love "dumping" it on you.  We don't want to be a "bad friend" so we listen.  Negative out of them is negative into us.  We cannot help but "react" to what they are saying:

• Their job is horrible
• Their spouse is horrible
• Their child(ren) are out of control
• They never have enough money to pay their bills
• Their car broke down

The list goes on and on and on and on.  Each day there is something different.  Some days it repeats something that you heard a week or month ago.

Some people just absorb the energy of those around us.  If you are surrounded by happy people you can't help but be happy.  If you are with someone who is negative you can't help but feel stressed.

So how do reduce YOUR stress of listening without being a bad friend?  

Here's what I do (not that it will work with everyone)

• Allow that friend five minutes to tell me what is "wrong" in their life.  (I will actually tell them they have only five minutes and I will actually clock the time).
• Once the five minutes are up I allow them five minutes to tell me how they are going to solve the problem.  (I prompt this by saying, "okay so your child isn't listening what can you do to fix that?)
• After that five minutes (10 minutes total) I turn the conversation to something positive about that person.  (At this time I don't talk about positive things in my life).
• Now you can have a normal conversation without the negative portions which keeps you from getting stressed.

If my friend continues to come back to the same negative conversation over a period of time (example: my boss is a jerk) I will tell my friend, "I am sorry about your situation but for the next week, month, etc. you cannot talk about your boss unless it is positive).  I have found that the person who is mostly negative continues to be negative if all they say is negative things.  

Eliminate the stress that you take on from others by changing your reaction to it.  It starts with change.  Change requires a plan.  By reducing your stress in this situation you may help your friend become a more positive person with more positive thoughts. Win Win!

Keep coming back for more ways to reduce stress in situations.

How do you reduce stress with your friends.  Please comment, maybe what you do will help someone else.

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