It seems that with the insurmountable life stressors that are bombarding me lately I would grow frazzled and lose my mental footing on life. Surprisingly, it is quite the opposite. Instead of blindly teetering on the edge of loose and crumbly negativity I maintain my composure by choosing mental flexibility and allowing myself to move along the treacherous whitecaps of stress as if I were gliding on a smooth, glassy reflection of a river… a river I like to call neutrality.
I could go on and on…explaining the different stressors in my life from the minuteness of running late to a doctor’s appointment yesterday to the immense stress from coping with the mental illness of a loved one. But I won’t…
I want to focus on that very moment when life seems to kick us another curve ball called stress. What do we do? How do we handle it? Where do we go? I used to react physically, mentally and emotionally. At times I would run from stress by literally walking away. At other times I would cope with stress through denial. And at other times I would breakdown emotionally. Depending on the stressor at the time I reacted with equal intensity like an opera singer…sometimes timidly like the musical notation pp Pianissimo …sometimes my stress level and reaction would crescendo like the musical notation ff Fortissimo. Not today…
Today, I react very differently. The stress of yesterday, today and tomorrow gracefully lifts and is carried away as I cope with whatever comes my way. How did I get here? It wasn’t easy – that’s for sure. I just decided that in the midst of the stress storm I would not take part in equal reaction. I used to almost feed the storm with my negative reactions. Now when I am presented with any kind of stress I remain calm and neutral. I’m not relenting believe me! You see the stress storm can no longer build in intensity and rain its darkness on me leaving me powerless. I do at times vent. I do at times cry. But now I am stronger knowing that I have control over the stressors of my life. I can’t stop them, but I sure can mentally glide along the smooth, glassy reflection of neutrality and face them…the insurmountable becomes possible.
Growing stronger…