How to Manage Stress.

Life sucks. Right?

As the joke goes, why do we have to think about what's for dinner every single night until we die?

Every month there are bills to pay, reports to file, laundry to put away, and gas tanks to refill all while making sure you pay the exact right amount in taxes.

Stress is a part of life. It will never not be there, so how will you use it?

Stress can wear you down and keep you stagnant. Or, it can be the resistance that keeps you pushing forward.

Think of it this way: five reps with a twenty pound dumbbell feels heavy when you start lifting. But if you keep working against that resistance, in no time at all twenty pounds is a snap and it's time to move up to forty!

Stress gets you where you want to be if you know how to manage it or change your relationship with it.

Managing stress is about working the opposite side. The opposite of stress isn't "relaxing." The opposite of stress is pleasure.

Stress says: I have to...

Pleasure is: I get to...

The little pressures in your life are what enable you to keep managing the stress of life. The early morning walk, the late afternoon nap, the special coffee drink you love - these all are reminders of why you keep doing what you're doing even though it comes loaded with stress. So have the delicious snack or maybe let someone enjoy you as the delicious snack you are;-)

If stress is weight, pleasure is levity.

Find your balance.

The more pleasure we have in our lives, the more stress can deal with. This is an actual thing known as the window of tolerance. If you're tolerance for life's stressors is low right now and your stress bucket is overflowing, look for little ways you can add more goodness and pleasure to your days. The stress isn't going away, so we have to find the practices that help us deal with it better.