"Easily Eliminate" STRESS

I was so excited when I read the headline for the Time.com article, "12 Ways to Easily Eliminate Stress" - - who wouldn't be?! Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at this) I knew of all the items on the list already.  There was no magic cure, in spite of the exclamation point teasing the article in my Facebook feed.  

Some of the suggestions include:

Plan your day

Write it down

Don't worry about work at home

Don't worry about home at work

Perspective

Automation

Coffee (ladies only)

Positivity

Stop working overtime (there are people who choose to work overtime?)

Drink alcohol

Punch things  (seriously, it's on the list)

There's even a list of fifteen bonus ideas that include gardening and meditation.  So some of these ideas are clearly better, more positive, and more useful than others. Considering drinking alcohol to "calm your nerves" seems like a prescription for alcoholism, that should probably be avoided.  Punching things can lead to costly damage to your home (and your relationships as well, I would think).  Automating your bills only works if you can guarantee there being money in your checking account on the same day every month, which is a challenge for many (and a huge source of stress in and of itself).  

Eliminating stress in your daily life is an incredibly difficult and challenging task for most of us.  Some experts say that a certain amount of stress (positive stress) keeps us motivated.  While these kind of solution lists have been popular on the internet lately (think Buzzfeed), they usually don't contain a whole lot of new information.  

When faced with an incredibly stressful assignment in high school (or at least what seemed like one at the time), I remember talking to my mom about it pretty late in the evening.  She was wise enough to tell me what I already knew - that there was little more I could do about it that night.  Going to bed and getting a good night of sleep and resolving to take care of what I could, when I could, in the morning was the only thing in my power to do.

Take a breath, go outside, stand in the sunshine with your eyes shut, pet a dog, look at a picture of a baby who is related to you, or just sit down and work on whatever is stressing you out.  However you deal with stress, just remember that the times we are living in are unprecedented for the amount of information we process and respond to on a daily basis, and cut yourself some slack.