Do any of these thoughts sound familiar?
“I have a million things going on right now”
“If Bob had this done, I could complete the work”
What are the commonalities? These are both stress stories. You may not realize it, but the stories you are telling yourself may be sabotaging your ability to manage your everyday stress levels.
How to know if you have a stress story …
• Do you explain away stress as something temporary?
“I just have a million things going on right now” (even though you cannot remember the last time you took a breather?)
• Do you blame your stress on someone else or outside sources like Bob?
Our stories or self-talk—the way your inner voice makes sense of the world around you and the way you communicate with your inner self—can greatly affect being in a constant loop and can make us feel like we can never get out of feeling stressed.
How can we start to change this?Â
By accepting responsibility for the role we play in creating or feeding this feeling by acknowledging our stress story. Your stress level will, in fact, remain outside your control if you do not accept responsibility for this.
Take a moment to look at your habits, attitudes, or excuses. What is your stress story that you often say to yourself?
See if you can catch yourself saying this throughout your day, because when we are aware, we can stop the story.
“Stress is not what happens to us. It is our response to what happens. And response is something we can choose.” – Maureen Killoran
Enjoy your day and continue to Feel Better. Work Better. Live Better.
Melissa
Melissa Lloyd
Founder of Doodle Breaks & Doodle Lovely
P.S I understand life is full… and so take a moment to give you mind a healthy break with this >> ’90-Second Refresh’.