An everyday tale of stress and how to manage it.

As the working world returns to some form of normality after the summer break it seems obvious that Stress is the hot topic of the month as I have received a number of emails offering me workshops on how to manage it for our employees, one to one counselling, legal advice and all sorts of other emails that received the delete button treatment. Whilst I have no qualifications in stress management, there were a couple that appealed to me, though they are far from new or original, and I offer them up to you:

A lecturer when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked; 'How heavy is this glass of water?'

Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g.

The lecturer replied, 'The absolute weight doesn't matter.

It depends on how long you try to hold it.

If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem.

If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm.

If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance.

In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.'

He continued, 'And that's the way it is with stress management’.

If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on. '

'As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden.'
'So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down. Don't carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow.

Whatever burdens you're carrying now, Let them down for a moment if you can. So, my friend put down anything that may be a burden to you right now. Don't pick it up again until after you've rested a while’.

And from another round robin email, here are some great ways of dealing with the burdens of life:


* Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue.

* Always keep your words soft and sweet, Just in case you have to eat them.

* Always wear stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.

* Drive carefully. It's not only cars that can be "Recalled" by their maker.

* If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.

* If you lend someone £20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.

* It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to be kind to others.

* Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won't have a leg to stand on.

* Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.

* When everything's coming your way, you’re in the wrong lane.

* Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.

* You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person.

* Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.

* We could learn a lot from crayons... Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names, and all are different colours, but they all have to live in the same box.

*A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

They all, in their own home spun philosophising way, offer a few gentle thoughts on the quality of life and how to perceive those problems. If you have any that you live by and would like to add, then drop me a line and I might just run a follow up to this in a week or so!