Just Breathe

By: Samantha Daviss

Telling people to remove stress from their lives is a futile concept. Stress is all relative depending on the situation (in my eyes). There is Macro stress and that to me is the stress that is inevitable and always going on around you; and then there is Micro stress, and that’s the stress that pops up, wears us down the most and then is gone in the blink of an eye, but while it was here, it was exhausting.

Macro stresses to me are basically the goings on in our daily lives:

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  --Will your kids do well in school?

· --Are your kids safe?

·-- Is your spouse safe on their business trip?

·--Will I get in a car wreck on my way to work?

·--- The bills are larger this month, can I pay them?

---- Having to make your past, the past…and stay there.

·---Having to deal with a co-worker you may not get along with very well.

· ----A family member is ill, but their health issue is in remission, but it is still foremost on your mind 24/7.

·----Understanding all the war and politics going on overseas, and why our military experts are a part of it.

·---Why is there so much anger in the world?

·  ---Why are our kids growing up in a society that they only know how to communicate through devices and technology?

Macro stress to me is stress that is continual, and no matter how many times doctors or health care professionals tell you to remove all stress from your life, it is virtually impossible to do…if you have a caring bone in your body for someone other than yourself. I am not saying I disagree with those professionals, they are absolutely correct, we need to remove stress from our lives; but in all honesty, I don’t see how any one human being can justifiably do that.

But the other type of stress, that I have labeled, is Micro stress. And those are the pressures and stresses that we typically induce upon our selves. They are the stresses that may be in our lives one day, but completely gone the next.

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         ---   Taking an exam, you put yourself through complete agony preparing for it, and then one day it’s over and done with. Pass or fail…you’re done.

·       ---Meeting a deadline at work…one minute it’s there and you aren’t sure how you are going to pull it off, you do…and it’s over.

·        --- Getting your child’s project completed on time.

·        ---- Getting to your appointment on time, when you are 20 minutes late as it is, and stuck in traffic.

·      -----   Just finding out that you or a family member is ill, how you are going to tackle the situation, and how everyone will move forward with the news.

So you see, stress comes in all forms. Most of it, yes we do engage in ourselves, but let’s be honest, can you really ever stop worrying about your kids? Your spouse? The health, safety, and well-being of our friends and loved ones? Of course not. The thing we have to remember as human beings, is we have to relinquish control, we can’t control and manage everything in the world.

You will always worry or think about those in your life. We just have to learn balance. Because stress does take a toll on your health, both inside and out. And I always tell people this, but a lot of times I am the worst at hearing and taking my own advice, and therefore I must be reminded on a constant basis…and that is to just breathe.

I am constantly reminding myself of the old adage… “This too shall pass”, we may not like the end results, sometimes those endings are death, failure or loss…but no matter what our cards hold, we just have to keep our heads held high and keep moving forward as the world turns.