There have been times when life has made me feel very much like a gerbil (I really don’t like rats – even as a mental image) on an enormous wheel – never able to stop or even slow down for fear of being thrown off. Perhaps you can relate?
As we started to discuss in the previous blog post, What is Your Personal Pressure Release Valve?, the modern world has given us many blessings but those benefits seem to come with just as many curses and pitfalls.
Too often, we find ourselves lost in the day-to-day grind of just making ends meet and helping someone else to live their dream while forgetting that we also have hopes and aspirations.
Perhaps it’s time to take a look at where we are headed and whether it is actually where we want to be? It’s never too late – or too soon – to do a stock-take of our priorities and to put our lives into perspective.
Here is a mini check-list to get you started. If you want to make positive changes in your life, today is the best time to get started. You just need to take that first mental step to jump off of the wheel.
1- Change your thinking
Sounds so basic, doesn’t it? But if you are not happy where you are, then continuing to think the same way that put you there obviously won’t make things better. Get a Pinterest board or make a scrap-book with pictures of places you would like to see, jobs you would prefer to have or changes you would like to make to your home that would make you feel more content and comfortable. Look at those images every day and add to them as you find new ideas. Just putting those thoughts into your head could very well set your mind working on ways to accomplish these goals and all it will take is 5 minutes a day.
2- Set goals
Do you want to be financially secure? Don’t we all?
Do you want a new career or to be an entrepreneur and develop your great idea into a wonderful lifestyle and financial freedom?
Nobody just falls into wealth – not unless they were born into it. Most successful people carefully planned and set their goals years before achieving them.
Perhaps money isn’t your hot button – maybe you would prefer a quiet life with enough funds to put food on the table and a roof over your head and the time to enjoy the company of your family and friends. That takes planning too.
Sit down with pen and paper and make a list of the top 10 things you would like to achieve within the next 5 years. From making your first million to climbing Mount Everest. If you want it – put it down there. Even if it seems to be beyond your reach, writing it down will put it into your mind and subconsciously, you will begin to think of ways to achieve that goal.
If it’s important to you – really important, you will find a way. And again, take 5 minutes a day to look at that list. Never doubt the power of your subconscious mind when it comes to moving you forward to achieve your desires.
3- How this relates to stress
So much of what has made me feel stressed and overwhelmed during my life has been the frustration of floundering around; of not going anywhere and feeling helpless and without direction.
Having a purpose – a goal to work towards and a plan of how to get there – is both a great form of stress relief and like an instant burst of energy.
Each one of us will have a different goal because, well, we’re all different, aren’t we? But each of us can benefit from this simple mini check-list. The main thing is to write those goals down and look at them every day.
4- Need more help getting started?
Stress to Strength has an Alliance Program that can help you move from stressed out and into the clear calm with the support and knowledge you need. And if you want to help others as well, Stress to Strength has the only Australian Government Accredited Certificate IV Practitioner Program on Stress.
The help is out there – all you need to do is take that first step off the wheel.
Wynn Grossman
For the Stress to Strength team
