Day 3 - 216 -- Stresses

Often when you are not looking, things creep up on you. It seems life is going in the right direction -- not perfect but with somewhat lessened stress -- when it all breaks loose around you. One stressful situation began late last evening when I should have been going to bed. Needless to say, sleep was sporadic. After help from an expert that situation is better than yesterday -- not perfect, but looking good for now. During the day, a conversation that usually helps to reduce stress ended with a transference of stress from the conversation partner, who was in a moment of heightened anxiety that came out straight at me. Though I wasn't the cause. I became the crucible to carry that stress away. I took that on, by choice, only because it made sense at the time. It did bring me down a bit, but I had another issue to address so just moved forward.

In my experience, stressful events come in clusters. Or, it may be that once there is one major stress we become more aware of the smaller stresses that might just pass by as momentary irritations at any other time. It became clear to me today, that choice is involved with becoming stressed by words. We can choose to take it on or let it go. Choice can be difficult with other major situations. If one breaks a bone, choosing to walk away from the stress seems senseless. In fact, stress can be positive and help us to survive injury and illness events. Embracing stress as a key component of life may be a healthy approach to survival -- physically and emotionally. It is a challenge, but it seems worth the effort.

The song selected for today speaks of the act of taking on the stress of others -- by choice.  It is from a UK indie band. Enjoy!

Broad Shouldered Beasts -- Mumford and Sons