Most people find it weird that I’ll train for 6 months so I can attempt to summit the biggest mountain in the contiguous United States – Mt Rainier – but I won’t: wait 10 minutes in line at the bank, spend 30 minutes cleaning my car, or mow my own lawn. I just wont do it. I refuse to do it.
Some say I’m lazy. I call it leveraging my time.
In my mind, it all comes down to the imposed vs. inflicted situations. It’s the difference between the time I spend on things I want to do (imposed) – to push myself and grow as a person – and putting up with the way the world works (inflicted), wasting time, just because it’s normally done that way. I can’t stand it.
That’s when I realized this whole concept applies to dealing with stress, or being under pressure.
For a long time I’ve believed that there’s a HUGE difference between stress I bring upon myself in my pursuits (positive), and one that is forced upon me for whatever reason (negative). It turns out I was right … it’s called Eustress & Distress.
This may sound crazy, but the way I deal with “distress” is by filling my life with “eustress” (or U-stress as I like to call it), so there’s no room left for the bad kind. Now, I’m not a doctor, so if you’re having chest pains, go see a physician – but if you’re always stressed out and anxious, take on a new personal goal. Pick anything. Go for it. Replace some of the bad stress with good stress.
Either way, now you know. You can’t unlearn this. Next time you’re feeling overwhelmed, just ask, “Is this self imposed or inflicted?” Then decide to change, or just smile because you know better.
What are some of your self imposed “Stressers”? How do you deal with it? Leave a comment below. I read and reply to each one.
