Are Things Weighing on You?

Things Always Appear Bigger in Your Mind than They Really Are.

Unless you’re a highly confident eternal optimist, you have probably experienced stress.  Times in your life when “things” like worries, fears, problems, to do lists, projects, relationship issues, annoyances, etc. are weighing on you. I have experienced times when the stress felt basically insurmountable. Have you ever been there? It’s like “things” seemed to have a compounding factor in my mind (instead of my mind adding the things, it was somehow multiplying!) Do you know what I mean?

Well, while I’m not totally stress free, I have to admit that I experience far less stress today than I ever have.  Here are some strategies I have found effective for overcoming stress.

1. First thing. You must acknowledge that everything “appears” larger, more complex and harder than it actually is.  Things are never as hard as they seem!  Let me prove this to you.  Think back to the last thing you achieved that you thought was going to be difficult: was it as hard as you thought it was going to be? See 😊
2. Stop the compounding factor, your problems are not multiplicative! That’s simply not real.  It’s a manifestation of fear, self-doubt and worrying. This is probably because you are carrying the load yourself and you need to learn to fully rely on God.  I have had to learn this.  One of my friends says all the time, “stop telling God how big your problem is and start telling your problem how big your God is!”  You are never alone. Not only does God walk with you, He wants to carry you. You should let him.
3. Get it out of your mind and onto paper. As long as things remain in your mind, they will continue to appear BIG and stress you out.  Take each issue, whatever you are concerned about and break it into smaller individual issues. Order the list by what is stressing you the most. Focus on changing or doing what you can. The most you can do is ONE at a time anyway, so stop thinking about it all at the same time.
4. Remember there is always SOMETHING that you can do, so find out what that is and do it.  Face it head on. Take action. Deal with it.  Make progress.  Even when you feel like things are out of your hands and there’s nothing that you can do to influence or change the situation, there is still something you do.   Change the way you see things. You can accept the reality for now and trust that God is doing something in your life that He believes you need to experience. So stop fighting it and embrace it as The Almighty Creator is working on you.  Have faith, He will carry you through.
5. Finally, remember “this too shall pass” (mom taught me that).  I tell myself this on a regular basis. It helps keep things in perspective.

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.