| Stress Management for middle age
Posted: 5/28/2008 3:50:53 PM | I use to think that my 20's were very stressful, not knowing if I'd survive or not. I was more out to "impress" than anything else. Now over the age of 50, the tender age of 20's really seemed like a breeze. It's funny, it seems like each decade, that I pass just gets easier. Middle age brings on a new set of stresses. Today, I found some useful advice about stress. I can appreciate the lesson about not bringing work home, I think I've been guilty of that all of my life.
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A Stress Management lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, "How heavy is this glass of water?" Answers called out ranged from 8oz. to 20oz.
The lecturer replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance. In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."
He continued, "And that's the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on."
As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden. So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down. Don't carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens you're carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can. Relax; pick them up later after you've rested. Life is short. Enjoy it!
And then he shared some ways of dealing with the burdens of life:
§ Accept that some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.
§ Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.
§ Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.
§ Drive carefully. It's not only cars that can be recalled by their Maker.
§ If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.
§ Never buy a car you can't push.
§ Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won't have a leg to stand on.
§ Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance!
§ Since it's the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late.
§ The second mouse gets the cheese.
§ When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.
§ Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.
§ You may be only one person in the world but you may also be the world to one person.
§ Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
§ We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull, some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box.
§ It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.
§ A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour. | |
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| Stress Management for middle age
Posted: 5/28/2008 5:50:19 PM |
If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on.
An empty mind is a happy mind. | |
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| Stress Management for middle age
Posted: 5/28/2008 7:20:12 PM | | Stress Management Technique: Don't sweat the small stuff- like hecklers who misread what you've tried to say. An empty mind is a happy mind? Oh puhleez. Plagiarism? The OP didn't claim the work as her own. | |
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| Stress Management for middle age
Posted: 5/28/2008 7:36:11 PM | | Some of them are stolen second hand. The one about the purpose of your life is from Ashleigh Brilliant. Despair Inc has that and a lot of other cool sayings on posters. | |
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| Stress Management for middle age
Posted: 5/28/2008 7:49:04 PM | Yep, had to check out Despair Inc.
AND I had to share/steal/what have you this one cuz it made me smile:
"If you're not a part of the solution,there's good money to be made in prolonging the problem. "
Source: Despair Inc. poster to describe "Consultancy"
hehehehe | |
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| Stress Management for middle age
Posted: 5/28/2008 8:40:50 PM | - like hecklers who misread what you've tried to say. An empty mind is a happy mind? Oh puhleez. Plagiarism? The OP didn't claim the work as her own.
Looks like somebody could use some of the OPs stress management techniques.
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| Stress Management for middle age
Posted: 5/28/2008 9:08:23 PM | I’ll borrow another quote that seems especially appropriate for POF:
"You were meant for me. Perhaps as a punishment."
(I 'm starting to feel less stressed already.) | |
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| Stress Management for middle age
Posted: 5/29/2008 6:03:10 AM | Long ago, before middle age, I was noticing that an AWFUL lot of what people called "stress" was of their own making. Their own fault.
For instance, lots of people have kids before they're ready. They don't have to do that.
Or, remember what they started calling "holidays stress " about 30 years ago? The mad rush for commercialized Xma$. Everybody gripes about it--and they do it anyway.
Or, there's Morrie Brickman's cartoon of the guy shaking his fist at the TV and screaming "That stupid program insults my intelligence every night!"
The examples are endless and diverse. What they have in common is that they're voluntary and result in stress, and they're not even fun in the first place. I don' t know if it's possible to express this to a person with such a fatalistic attidude. All I can say is, If it looks like trouble, back off. Or don't back off. It's your business. | |
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| Stress Management for middle age
Posted: 5/29/2008 6:29:04 AM | | Stress in small does can be exhilarating. For me it’s stressful to be meeting new people on a dating site, but I do it voluntarily. When I am in a stressful situation that I can’t or don’t want to avoid I turn to humor. I try to step back and take things less seriously. | |
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| Stress Management for middle age
Posted: 5/29/2008 6:29:43 AM | Here are some of mine:
Play with your dogs - they will do anything to hear your laughter, and get a hug
Go sit out on the porch, sip your coffee, and enjoy those lovely flowers you planted
Do something you love to do
pamper yourself with a warm bath, a walk in the country, a good book, silence
Put on your favourite cd of music, and listen with your eyes closed
Give yourself at least an hour a day to relax
Plan your time better, and don't over book yourself
Learn to say "no" nicely
Just sit and catch your breath when panicing - a 10 mins timeout won't hurt anything, but it will sure help you to calm down.
and finally
have fun and laugh a lot! | |
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| Stress Management for middle age
Posted: 5/29/2008 7:14:58 AM | Good stress-busting suggestions from the OP & celticmist
Here's one of mine:
Eat Chocolate!!!
while listening to the song " When You're Going Through Hell Keep on Going" and dance like nobody's watching! Works for me. | |
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| Stress Management for middle age
Posted: 5/29/2008 7:57:01 AM | The main one, in my opinion, is just don't let things "get to you" to begin with.
And, if something does slip in... defuse it in your mind quickly, don't let it build up.
By our age we should have learned how to spend many many moments just sitting back and letting the world's craziness slide right on past.
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| Stress Management for middle age
Posted: 5/29/2008 8:56:30 AM | Mighty good suggestions listed so far! I was just thinking the other day that even though I am getting older, the stress level has not decreased. Especially work wise what with management demanding higher sales quotas and the like.
Guess if I were to add one more suggestion for stress relief to what has been mentioned, would absolutly have to be SEX!!!!! Works every time! | |
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| Stress Management for middle age
Posted: 5/29/2008 9:10:45 AM |
would absolutly have to be SEX!!!!
For women only. For men, in the older age group, the pressure to perform, the worry that one might not be able to deliver, all INCREASE the stress in one's life. Women, after all, don't actually have to DO anything to enjoy the physical pleasures.....
Then there is the whole "meaningful relationship" dimension. Women want to talk about "our relationship" before, during and after. That is a real source of stress for the average guy of any age.... | |
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| Stress Management for middle age
Posted: 5/29/2008 10:04:14 AM | Ah but rearguard as for women doing nothing - if we women care for our man, we can "do" a few things to make sure he's having as much fun as we are. As for "before, during and after" - who wants to be talking? 
I sometimes think people are their own worst enemies when it comes to stress, making those proverbial mountains out of molehills, by imagining the worst scenarios. | |
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| Stress Management for middle age
Posted: 5/29/2008 10:22:01 AM | The biggest stress management tool for middle age (and beyond) is having a healthy and active sex life -- all things transpire with less stress when one is 'gettin' it' regularly. And I shall continue to stress the importance of this to all who will listen. It's a dirty job, ya know ... but somebody's gotta ...
cdn guy | |
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| Stress Management for middle age
Posted: 5/29/2008 11:46:43 AM | My favorite stress management has to do with putting large holes in small bits of paper from far away.  works every time.
Another adage to keep in mind: Never sweat the petty stuff.
Conversely: Never pet the sweaty stuff.
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| Stress Management for middle age
Posted: 5/29/2008 2:39:07 PM | Golf is My big Stress-reliever..!!
*BAM!!*...G o n e..!!!
Sex is also a good cure .. as 'moonchild' has stated . . but . .
I was very lucky to Spell it _once_ in a sentence .. so I won't push my Luck..!! | |
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| Stress Management for middle age
Posted: 5/29/2008 2:44:25 PM | | Me, I take to the air or water to get away and not think about whatever is stressing me out. It works! | |
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