Stress relief is tough when you are complacent, apathetic or burning out
You’ve got your head down, you’re working hard, you’re getting your job done. Sure, your job is stressful. But you’ve learned to deal. You know how to ‘man up’ as the saying goes …
Feeling Frazzled Sneaks Up On You!
Except that you’re not handling the stress like you used to. You’ve noticed that you’re not sleeping well. Every day it’s caffeine in the morning and a glass of wine in the evening. The energy you once had is waning. It’s hard to get excited about much of anything.
I’ve seen this pattern with clients over and over again: a gradual wearing down over time that leaves them complacent, apathetic or burning out, without the energy to do something about the stress relief they need.
Signs of complacency
I’m sure you’ve heard something like the following:
- “That’s just who I am”
- “It is what it is“
- “The key is to accept a person as they are”
Statements like this are an attempt to ‘go with the flow’ and ‘not make waves’. Except that too often people end up tolerating situations that need to change, including internal shifts within themselves that could make all the difference in creating stress relief.
Rather than ‘going with the flow’, the statements above are a sign of becoming complacent, of disengaging, of losing hope and ultimately of beginning to not care – about yourself and others. You’ve got to check-out the Urban Dictionary’s definition of “it is what it is” to see what I’m talking about – it’s a hoot!
Stress relief starts inside of YOU
- The first step in creating stress relief is to get honest with yourself about situations that suck. Really. One of my clients likes to say, “if it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck … it is a duck.” A sucky duck sucks. Period.
- The next step is easy but only if you practice: ask yourself, what would you really, really like instead of what’s happening? It’s healthy to want more for ourselves, like friends who are emotionally responsible, leaders who challenge and inspire the best in others, and so forth … these are healthy wants.
- Next, ask for what you want without pushing, forcing or controlling. Make a specific request, share your perspective, ask for support, take action where it’s easy to move forward.
Can Hand Fulls of Pills Provide Stress Relief?
You could medicate yourself and take hand fulls of supplements as a way of getting stress relief. There is a time and place for these solutions. But these approaches don’t handle the original source of stress: feeling hopeless and helpless.
Stress relief happens when you turn the tide, from feeling hopeless and helpless, to feeling hopeful
Experiencing what you want, even in tiny baby steps, can be the beginning of the stress relief you need to feel much, much better about your situation.
Stress relief requires a belief that Life is for you, not against you
One of the biggest obstacles to stress relief, and a source of complacency, is a belief that Life is hard, struggle is inevitable, or that people in general are against you.
I know that struggle is a reality that many people experience.
I also know that if you believe life is hard, it is.
Simply believing that Life is for you, not against you, can be an antidote to struggle. I’m not talking about positive thinking here. I’m talking about useful thinking.
Stress relief happens when you clear your doubts
When you ask for what you want, and get chaos instead, don’t assume that you can’t get what you want! Instead, know that some part of you, inside of YOU, believes that you can’t have what you want. Anchor yourself in knowing Life is for you, deal with the doubt, and what you want will arrive.
Stress relief comes when you deal with your doubt
When you start rolling with this simple process of asking for what you want, clearing your internal doubts, and then letting your wants arrive, your stress levels will plummet. If they don’t, you may need help boosting your energy levels – in whatever way you can!
As stress levels decrease, the energy you have to ask for what you want and clear your doubts will increase.
Gradually, your experience of apathy, complacency and burn out will decline. Your tendency to push, control or manipulate to get what you want will decline. And people will be more inclined to support you in getting what you want!
Stress relief happens when you experience cycles of asking for and allowing what you want
Become a Stress Free Dynamo!
As your energy increases, you have more resources again, to ask for what you want and to clear the doubts that will arise … and so the cycle continues building until you become a stress free, consciously creating, positively powerful dynamo!
I know, easier said than done! But I want you to get a sense of what’s possible here: stress relief and the healing of doubts that are keeping you from what you want.
Not trivial, materialistic wants, but those wants that support you in living your best life. Wants that are definitely worth striving toward.
What do you want that would support you in being at your best? And give you some stress relief in the process? Your comments are welcome below!