I heard a delightful object lesson today while listening to a presentation at a job searching workshop. I thought I would share it in today’s teaching embellishments blog. Usually when we think of the concept of a cup of water being half-full or half-empty that concept is used to depict one’s attitude toward life. If the Is half empty, then people may interpret life negatively. For individuals who see the cup as half-full may, they may have a more optimistic point of view of life.
In today’s object lesson, the instructor made a comparison of the cup being full and concentrated on the weight of the cup. If someone was to hold the cup for 30 seconds, it is not very heavy; but, the longer they hold back cup, the more heavy, it becomes.
Holding the cup for a long time can be compared to long-term stress. It is usually easy to handle stress in the short term. It becomes more difficult. The longer we have to hold the cup or in this case, the stress. When we are concerned about a topic we experience less stress when we can put the event quickly behind us. But long-term stress would be compared to holding a cup for an hour or four hours. Where we experience extreme fatigue by having to combat a challenge in the long-term, then it is desirable for us to seek ways to combat long-term stress.
When I think of ways of how I can handle stress, this is a few examples that I’ve come up with.
- Sometimes realizing that certain moments of stress can often be a temporary thing when viewed in the overall length of our lives. Being unemployed may only be for a couple of months versus my overall life plan of perhaps 90 years. An event that occupies a couple of months provides a high stress at the moment, but when viewed in the long-term effect, it may not have as much significance compared to maybe an illness that is permanent.
- Sometimes when one must experience a steady stress, then it’s advisable to find avenues to release the stress. It is an opportunity to take a break from the constant trial than seek out those opportunities. This might be the time of where maybe a certain stress might be shared with family or friends, and thus lessen the pressure on just one individual.
- Another option is to find sources the pleasure to help counterbalance the points of stress. If one cannot afford entertainments that usually require money, but you enjoy reading, then you might gain pleasure by going to the library and getting the books to read. Or to associate with friends and participate in activities that don’t require money.
- Many people have found that serving others in a moment of the own stress sometimes widens their perspective of where they may find that their life is not as difficult as other people’s lives.
- Sometimes the intensity of stress can be impacted by how we respond to that stress. Certain points of stress can often be preventable or lessened in intensity. An example of this might be an addiction to something such as smoking. Someone may combat their smoking habit by using nicotine patches to gradually wean them off the addiction of cigarettes.
- Sometimes stress can be combated by a seeking out the advice of experienced individuals who have experienced a similar trial. Those individuals who have passed similar trials may have some advice on how to better combat your trials. This also includes seeking out God’s influence and inspiration to address trials.
These are just a few ideas on how to address stress. Go ahead and do a search on the Internet for more detailed examples of stress.
In past blogs, I have taken notes from lectures I’ve attended. I will provide some links of those blogs at the bottom of this page that can give additional recommendations on handling stress.
http://www.melvagifford.com/2013/07/16/influences-of-burnout-in-the-work-place/
http://www.melvagifford.com/2013/07/08/overcoming-burnout/
http://www.melvagifford.com/2013/07/23/suggested-daytime-habits-to-address-burnout/
http://www.melvagifford.com/2013/05/13/being-a-positive-person/
http://www.melvagifford.com/2013/02/25/eating-healthy/
http://www.melvagifford.com/2012/09/11/ways-to-relieve-stress-or-pressure/
http://www.melvagifford.com/2013/05/11/finance-advice/
http://www.melvagifford.com/2013/03/23/a-little-humor/
http://www.melvagifford.com/2012/04/05/i-save-jokes-here-are-a-few-to-enjoy/
If you have found some techniques that have been useful to you in handling stress, please feel free to share your ideas in the comment section this blog. Thank you
