Keeping It In Perspective

Sometimes life can throw them at you hard and fast and if you don't duck quickly enough, you get slammed in the face! Really, it can! I know - many of you probably already know that. Sometimes though, it just feels like a tidal wave or a hurricane has slammed ashore in your life.

In the past week, I've been hit several times with some major stressors and each one stung a lot. All of the situations were out of my control but yet they impacted me directly and with gusto! Different people, different frameworks and different situations lined up and attacked at once it seemed. Believe me, at one point I was ready to run for cover, yet there was no place to run to.

I tried to deal with each situation as best as I could but the accumulation affect began to make the little things grow into much bigger things. One event hit me so hard that it really made me extremely angry. The minute I felt the anger, I was feeling the need to literally vomit my guts out. A headache raged on and my abdomen was so bloated that moving around or sitting was excruciating. For the rest of the night and into much of the next day, I physically didn't think I was going to make it. And of all days, I had a task to perform that went almost 15 hours from beginning to end. So now, I'm not only dealing with the anger and physical ills but I'm feeling exhausted, stressed, tired, etc.

Yet, I am listening to my body and hearing it say to me that I need to stop, regroup and hit that reset button. So here's what I'm doing.

1) The things that I can take care of and do what I need to do, I'm working on. If it is beyond my control, I'm just trying to say, it isn't my concern for now and I have to trust the system in place.

2) The things that needed immediate attention for me to stand up and be accounted, I had conversations with the person stating to them that their way of doing business was a very bad practice. After all, I lost a serious amount of business income because of a decision they made that strongly impacted me. While they didn't like me confronting them and it may impact further income, I had no choice really because they would have just walked all over me in the future.

3) The things that were just too consuming and toxic at the moment had to be put off. After all, I can only do and deal adequately with so many things at one time. I've learned that I don't have to solve everything with others at one moment. Sometimes we need to regroup and reassemble in order to move forward. That's what I'm doing.

4) I'm trying to take time off and just rest and give myself some downtime. While I can't just run off and get away from phones, email and other responsibilities, I can limit myself for a day or two. My body is screaming for the rest and is hitting the reset button whether I like it or not. So I've got to follow what my body wants or there will be hell to pay!

5) I plan on getting the creative side of me out and just allowing myself to bask into the calmness and groundedness and centeredness of it all. Allow myself to go in to that place that is peaceful, calming and soothing and to connect with the higher side of myself.

Sometimes perspective on stresses and issues in life is very difficult to keep. Sometimes we get bombarded like in a game of dodge-ball that we have to find a corner to hide in or catch the balls coming at us. Whatever we do, there are times when we really just need to stop and find a way to catch our breath, regroup and hit the reset button.

If you're stressed and feeling bomarded, it is time to take a moment and do a reset in life. Don't keep trudging through everything because you think you have to. If you stop and rest a little, you'll fuel your body back up to take on everything coming at you. If you exhaust yourself, you will be taken out by the dodge balls!


*For more articles, check out the Mind Body Thoughts Blog