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We’ve all been overcome by stress at one time or another. It’s miserable when you are dreading something and are so overwhelmed by a task you can’t even make yourself start. But, there’s hope! Some suggest making sure you eat healthy and not let yourself get too hungry or too full. That’s good advice, but it won’t completely get rid of stress. Follow these keys and I promise you will come out the other side victorious!
1) Give yourself permission to be happy. There’s something inside us that makes us feel like we have to worry. It feels like we would be irresponsible for not worrying. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
The bible says that not only are we not supposed to worry, but we are told not to be anxious! Not only do you have permission to not be nervous, you are commanded not to! Just ask God to help you and then you don’t have to worry about it. Don’t feel guilty for freeing yourself from the burden of worry, feel pride for doing the right thing.
2) Give thanks to God. In the same passage where Paul says not to be anxious he gives us the remedy. Pray about your situation, trust Him to take care of it, and give thanks for all the times in your past that God has come through for you. Be specific. Think of all the times you were in a similar situation and God came through for you, and give thanks. It will help remind you of how faithful God is in keeping His promises. He’s always come through, why wouldn’t He come through now?
Even better – start keeping a prayer journal. Any time you have a prayer request, write it down in great detail and always leave the page beside it empty. Every time God comes through for you, write the specifics on the empty page with a red pen. When you are feeling stress or worry, just go through the journal and you’ll be amazingly blessed by how God consistently comes through for you. Seeing all the pages with red ink is a powerful sight. It will give you an unbelievable amount of strength which will allow you to trust Him. It’s worth it, I promise!
3) Don’t think about it, just do it. The hardest part is starting. There’s absolutely zero benefit in trying to decide whether or not you can tolerate starting. It’s a decision we don’t want to make, so we ignore it and keep putting it off. It’s not that we’re putting the task off, we are putting the decision whether or not to start doing the task off.
Don’t think about it, there’s not a decision to make. Make the decision ahead of time that every time you are in a stressful situation that you are going to jump right in. Since you’ve already made the decision, don’t even think about it. Remember the first time you went on the high dive? The more you stand up there and think about it, the more terrified you become. Every time you force yourself to “make a decision” whether you should jump in or not, the answer will always be “no.”
You can’t think about it, you just have to go up there, hold your nose, close your eyes, and jump. Do all the thinking after you are safely in the water. The same applies to every stressful situation. Just hold your nose and jump in. Don’t think about it, just start. It’s never as bad as you fear. It’s not the task that’s so scary, it’s the decision to do it that is. Once you get past that, you are golden!
4) Take bite size pieces. For some reason, we humans love things in bite sizes. This article is easy and fun to read because it’s written as a list. TV shows have realized this as well, just look at how many countdown shows and top 10 lists there are. It’s the reason we write in paragraphs and sections separated by headers. Can you imagine this article being written as one big paragraph? It would be so intimidating that you wouldn’t even start reading it!
God made us to receive enjoyment and fulfillment for completing a task. There’s a little shot of thrill we get in our brain chemistry every time we finish a goal. That thrill is addictive – in a good way. It energizes us to take on the next challenge.
Break up your task into really small pieces. If you can, organize it that way visually. Remember, when you “hold your nose and jump in” you aren’t committing to the whole task, just the first little piece of it. Never think about the entire task, there’s no need for you to do that. Doing the entire task is impossible, but doing the next small piece is easy. Think about it one piece at a time. You don’t have to make it through the entire thing, just make it through that one piece.
We need to see progress and have successes. So instead of having a huge stack of papers constantly reminding you how much there is, organize it so you only see a small section at a time – hiding the rest from view. That way, you can enjoy finishing the section and see the progress you are making. Each section should then be broken up into even smaller “tasks”. Take the time to organize the project in this way, it will be worth it! It will make it fun!
5) Reward your successes. Allow yourself to feel enjoyment every time you complete a bite size task. Feeling good is just as important as every other part of the work. If you can, have a reward for yourself. It can be as simple as bag of skittles, where you get piece each time you finish a task. At the very least, sit back, take a breath, and stretch. Whatever you do, just don’t forget to feel good about completing it. Have a bigger reward every time you finish a section. It helps to leave the area or take a small break as a reward. Breaks are just as important as work. You might even want to run across the room and high five your co workers. Why not? Have fun!
Don’t feel bad for abandoning your work, feel pride for accomplishing the section! See how that reframes the situation? Instead of constantly feeling bad for what you haven’t done, you are constantly feeling good for what you have done!
6) Pretend you are happy. Imagine a person who never gets stressed, and even during the worst times is happy and has fun no matter what he/she is doing. Now, as an experiment, act like you are that person. Since you don’t have to spend so much energy and focus worrying, you can spend that free energy focusing on this.
Always smile! Psychologists discovered that our emotions follow our expressions. People who forced a smile while reading comics enjoyed them much more than people who forced a frown. If you keep smiling, your body will react like you are happy which actually puts you in a better mood. So, if you pretend to be the person that never gets stressed out, always has a great attitude, and always has fun…you’ll actually become that person. You’ll trick your body into thinking you really are having fun and it will respond accordingly.
There. Now there’s no excuse for you to be stressed out. So, stop being stressed already! You have my permission. :)
Author Resource:- Jim F. Graham - http://www.howtodatechristiangirls.com Jim's new book, "How to Date Christian Girls" explains why you keep getting your heart broken to pieces. Why do girls never see you as more than just a friend? Find out the answers you've long been waiting for. Read the first 3 chapters free.
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