Do you ever feel like your own worst enemy? Do you find yourself stressing about very small and unimportant details of everyday life? Does the stress of these minor nuisances wear on you day in and day out? I know for me it’s been challenging just to accept and embrace my own chaotic and constant worry about little details of my life. Now that I recognize it, I can use this trait to my advantage and be proactive about managing the stress that comes with it.
To give you an example of what I am talking about I will share with you a daily stress that gets under my skin. In every location that I have lived, I have stressed about which route I would take to work everyday. No matter how obvious or simplistic the routes, I would always wonder, worry, and stress about the path I was taking. Usually the thought is dominated by the amount of time I might save if I were to tweak my route. When I walked to work I would literally count steps so that I could find the optimum path. Many times, while driving to work, I would stress about which route I would take up until some final definitive turn or intersection that would leave me without options. I could feel the anxiety melt away after passing such a point.
Although that is just one example of an everyday thing that can bother the living hell out of me, there are a plethora of things throughout my day that could torment me. Before learning how to deal with this anxiety, many of my decisions in life were being dictated by silly things like habit or convenience. Being mindful of the anxiety empowered me to start making decisions that would add value to my day rather than stress.
With the path to work example, I turned it into one of my most relaxing exercises of the day. I made a conscience decision to always take the more scenic route to work. This free’s my mind of the dreaded burden of optional routes. It also gives me the opportunity to collect my thoughts and align my attitude so I can accomplish more throughout my day. I start my morning by driving through some twisty roads that put me through a tunnel carved out of the thick trees in the area. It forces me to pay close attention and gets me in a focused state of mind. On my way home from work I take the same route home, but often it is at a much slower pace with many more cars to compete with. This scenic route, at a slow pace, gives me the opportunity to take in the sights of majestic Lake Travis, and it melts the stress that I may have collected throughout the day.
Find the small things throughout your day that can lead to annoyance or anxiety and turn them into opportunities. Make the decision to improve your quality of life and find the positive in every situation you can. Its exercises like these that sets Elite individuals apart from the common person. If you prevent things from getting to you, you can make them work for you!
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