How to Stop Stress (and Find Joy!) in 3 Steps

stop stress

Is stress eating you alive? Are you tired of always running ragged just so you can be everything you think you should be? STOP! Let me share a secret with you. I too was (am) just like you! I spent years working endless hours, volunteering for everything, cooking, cleaning, running here to there and everywhere just so I could accomplish everything I “thought” I should do in a day. I tried to be Super Mom, Super Wife, and Super Friend. I was so caught up in being everything to everyone else that I forgot the most important person I need to take care of is…ME! Sound familiar?

Stop Trying To Be Perfect!

If you are chasing perfection, you are chasing a long, dark tunnel that leads to frustration, anxiety, and stress! None of us are perfect, anyway. How boring would that be anyway? Our flaws, our imperfections, and our idiosyncrasies are what sets you apart from me and that is beautiful! So stop trying to be someone you’re not – this doesn’t mean we don’t strive to better ourselves. If you didn’t have a desire to be a better person, you wouldn’t be reading this. But what it does mean is you need to take a step back and think about what it is you really want. It is fame? Is it beauty? Or, could it be, your true desire is to find the place in your life that brings you peace, joy, love, and satisfaction? Only you can decide what it is you are truly after, but in order to do that, you have to stop the perfection race today!

Stop Trying to Do It All!

There are only 24 hours in a day. You should sleep for 8 of those, so you have approximately 16 hours to accomplish everything else! Groceries, bills, cleaning, organizing, work, kids, homework, sports, school – the list can seem endless. Many of us think we have more time than we really do and try to cram far too many things on our “to-do” list. When (inevitably) at the end of the day we have not accomplished all of them, we feel let down, guilty and deflated. I am all about taking the bull by the horns and charging at life, but sometimes my charge has to be slowed down a bit. I’ve realized it is okay not to be more like the cow grazing in a field. The cow knows it needs to eat grass to produce milk but it does it slowly and steadily. It doesn’t try to eat the entire field in one day or it would make itself sick! But that is what we are trying to do, and it is literally making us sick with stress and anxiety. Make your lists, but make them doable. What can you accomplish today and what can wait?

Start Where You Are (but never stop dreaming about where you want to be)!

One of the biggest mistakes I see people do is judge their progress by the progress of other people. STOP! Maybe those other people have worked for YEARS to get to where they are! Their progress didn’t happen overnight and neither will yours! Whether it’s your career, your fitness goals, getting your home organized, you cannot judge your life by the progress of someone else’s!

You are where you are today because of the steps you did or didn’t take.

If you want to be better, you must TRUTHFULLY assess where you are, and take one baby step each day to get to where you want to be. Look at how far you’ve come and then put one foot in front of the other and keep taking a step in the right direction. If you happen to have an off day, if you happen to fall down, grab your boot straps and pull yourself back up. A step backwards isn’t quitting unless you allow it to stop your progress. You can always start again and keep pushing forward.

So today, start exactly where you are, take one baby step forward and keep your eyes glued to your goal! Write this down:

TODAY I WILL:
STOP TRYING TO BE PERFECT!
STOP TRYING TO DO IT ALL!
START WHERE I AM!

One of my favorite quotes is; “If the mountain was smooth you couldn’t climb it.” I’m not sure who first said it, but it is so true! You will feel the most pride, the most joy, and the most peace in your life when you climb that mountain. However long it takes!