My whole life I’ve been pretty avoidant of stress. If something is emotionally stressful I turn and look for an exit. As long as I can remember, when I’ve felt sad or overwhelmed, I’ve gone to sleep. Literally, “pull the covers back! I’m diving in” kind of sleep.
Now as an adult who is responsible for more than just myself, that old behavior is often counter productive. (Not that I’m not an advocate of sleep, whoa. I totally still am.) I’m simply no longer an advocate of avoiding hard things.
I’ve learned a few things to do with that stress. So I thought it’d be fitting to share them with you as I’m sure to need to refer this several times throughout the day today. 😉
- Stop to breathe. Then notice and name it. Call it out for what it is. Acknowledge that whatever is happening is likely out of your control.
- Remind yourself that you can’t control the circumstance, but you CAN control your response to it. You are in complete control of you. Your response has the power to change everything. I have found this to be especially true in the training ground of parenting! ( try this out too!)
- Do something. Do the next right thing. Even if it’s tiny. Taking positive action in times of stress makes all the difference in the world. For me, it’s the exact opposite of my old response to run to hide and sleep. I have to fight hard sometimes to do something, but when I do, I find that the stress diminishes significantly.
In the past few months, while planning and preparing for the Fashioned for Freedom event (that’s tonight!), I’ve bumped up against stress and that old habit a lot. My friends have heard me say that I’ve felt like crawling under a rock to hide and go to sleep. Let’s just say I’ve gotten at lot of practice at what I’m preaching today.
I’m here to tell you, it really works.
So later today when I can’t get the door to the U-haul open because we stuffed it entirely too full last night, when the rain is pouring on us as we load it in the museum, when I realize I left something really important at home, when the unexpected happens. . . would somebody please remind me of this post? 😉
You’ll have stress today too. Life is full of opportunities to practice. I hope these three little steps will come to mind and you’ll try them out.
- Name it.
- Remember you are in control of you (your response).
- Do something.
You’ve got this. We’ve got this!
to more love,
Crystal
P.S. I’m SOOO excited to share that we will have a FREE live stream for the event tonight. Thanks to the wonderful folks over at Immerss. So if you can’t make it to the live event, you can still join us live! (You can still do something.) Simply go to heartstories.com/fff between 7-10 tonight and you can be part of all the goodness. Can’t wait to see you there!
