Stress, Get Thee Behind Me!

Stress has a way of taking over your life and making you miserable. It doesn’t happen all at once. It’s the little things. It’s the bill you forgot to pay that creates the collection call and leaves you scrambling to figure out how to find the money you need. Or, it’s the broken water pipe in the middle of winter when the temperature went below zero and you weren’t ready for it.

Stress is the backache you have no reason to feel. Or maybe it’s waking up in the morning and finding you forgot to buy coffee the day before and you were out. Or maybe it’s all of those things together at the same time.

Some people just seem to deal with stress better than others. Problems and struggles seem to roll off their back without a worry or a tear. Others can feel stress at the drop of a hat and feel their world is crashing down around them.

How we deal with stress is what matters. Ignoring it never works. Stress has a voice that carries loud and clear over everything else. You can’t run from it. It finds you and follows you. It’s a part of you.

I can’t speak for other people. For myself, the best way to deal with stress is to write. It doesn’t matter if I sit in front of the computer with a blank document open and let words flow, or if I am sitting with a pen and a notebook. I just need to write out whatever is in my head.

I’m a natural writer. I wonder sometimes if the empath in me naturally gravitated toward writing as a release because of the healing properties in writing. For as long as I can remember I turned to a notebook and pen when life handed me lemons.

In the past few years I have also discovered the joy of art. Painting is a new way for me to let out some steam when things are getting cloudy in my head. There are many other ways to release the stress. Exercise is a great one if you are physically able to manage it. Dancing to music that inspires is another wonderful method to relieve some pressure.

However, for me, nothing works quite as well as letting the words flow out of my fingers. There’s no hidden messages. It’s all right out there in the open to be read in plain English. This is what is bothering me. These are the things keeping me awake at night.

What are some other ways to deal with stress that work for you?