Why I stopped trying to fix my stress

His eyes popped, his face was red, and he was waving his arms around.

His flight got rescheduled, and he was not having it.

The airline staff stayed calm, but you could tell they'd seen this a hundred times before.

When I used to get stressed like this, I told myself I'd never react like that again.

I told myself I needed to control my stress.

But this only made me more self-conscious and annoyed at little things.

This is precisely how most people approach stress:

They try to control it.

They reach for techniques like breathing drills, journaling, and mindfulness hacks.

They collect stress-reduction strategies like Pokémon cards, hoping one will finally work.

I tried the same laundry list of solutions.

The more overwhelmed I felt, the more I'd be compelled to fix this problem

Each new trick brought temporary relief. But stress always found its way back. The cycle never ended.

Finally, I saw this wasn't getting me anywhere.

I stopped trying to manage stress and started to understand it. I learned about it from ancient philosophies and new mentors.

And when I did, something super cool happened.

I realised I didn't have to do anything to get rid of it.

Phew.

It lost its grip on me the moment I saw where stress really came from.

Stress isn't caused by external events, no matter how frustrating they seem.

It's created by how we think about them.

Once you see that, you don't need clever techniques.

You simply relax because you now know where stress comes from.

Can you see how this would make a difference in your life?

Realise that you create your stress, and getting angry no longer seems necessary.

Now you can get back to what life's all about

Enjoying the heck out of it.

🔆

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