Do Things Happen TO You Or AROUND You?

Chances are how you answer that question has a great deal to do with how much stress you experience in our life.  We all have a lot going on in our lives.  There are the daily pressures of just trying to get it all done in a day and then there are the things that life seems to through at you and add to the mix.

For me right now, there is life, work and relationships plus lots of changes going on at our office, a good friend of mine that is in hospice and potentially loosing her battle with cancer, a brother in law that is in the process of getting divorced, and some additional family tensions.  But here is the deal, all of that is happening AROUND me, none of it is happening TO me.  Yes, I have opinions on all of it and feel for the people involved, but none of it requires that I turn my life upside down and take on their stress to show my support. It does not help them and it does not help me.

So the next time you feel yourself spinning out of control with stress about all of the things going on in your life.  Take a step back and ask yourself if all of these things are happening around you or to you? They may still require action on  your part, but if you can take some of the emotional charge out of it then it is much easier to manage them and move through your day without being so drained at the end of it.  It will also save you hours on the phone talking to whomever will listen about how outraged you are about this or that and leave you a lot of extra time to be productive.