Everyday we always encountered stress, in our workplace, in our home, in some activities and other events... you're stressed and don't know what to do... Remember, "It's just a (insert noun here) and it's not on fire." This mantra works in many scenarios, and a lot of my friends are saying it's working for them too.

Examples:

"It's just a record store, and it's not on fire."

"It's just a restaurant, and it's not on fire."

"It's just a computer, and it's not on fire."

"It's just a game, and it's not on fire."

"It's just a snack machine, and it's not on fire."

"It's just a date, and it's not on fire."

In the grand scheme of things is it really a big enough deal to get so worked up over? If not, then reason with yourself. If you know it's not that big of a deal, remind yourself it's not that big of a deal. Stress happens more easily when you lose perspective of what really matters and you make a bigger deal of things than they are.

I am also a firm believer that everyone needs a sanctuary. Some place a person can go to unwind, "get the day off" of you, recenter yourself, find your inner peace. When something has you all stressed out and you need to walk away and come back before you blow up? It's kinda like that, only more of a daily basis thing.

For some people their sanctuary is their room, their house, their bathroom, their shower, their favorite recliner, their car.... Wherever you can go to turn off your brain for a minute that makes you feel at peace. When I come home from work, I plop down on the couch and let myself get sucked into the boob tube. No news, no thinking, just watching. Mindless watching. I can return my missed calls in a minute. My email will still be there later. But when I first come home I need to put the brakes on my brain and switch gears. Work is over and I'm home now. I have to switch gears in my brain so my brain knows I'm home now and so it will stop thinking about work. If I had a bad day at work and it was particularly stressful, it may take me longer to get my brain to let go of work stuff before I can relax and enjoy the peace and quiet of my home.

At my last house, I had a stressed out roommate and he would stress me out. So I would be stressed out from work, go to school and be stressed out about that, then come home and deal with the stress from the roommate. I had no peace & quiet ME time in between all the stress, and that made everything so much more stressful. I was always stressed out. Now where I live my home is my sanctuary. I come home, take a few moments to regroup from the stress of the day, switch gears and be at peace. When my boyfriend comes home from a bad day at work, he takes a hot shower to "wash the day off," and that's what works for him.

Whatever it is you find peace doing, it helps if it's something that is relaxing, doesn't involve too much brain power, and is distracting enough to get your mind off work/school/whatever. Get sucked into some goofy cartoon, melt into a hot bath or shower, meditate, doodle on magazines, play a video game, sing along to some music, bang on some drums, take yoga or kickboxing, walk the dog, take pictures of your kids or your pets, whatever works for you.

If you find yourself stressed out a lot, make time every day, even if it's just a few minutes, to unplug from the "world" and reconnect with yourself. Think of all the time you spend at work, at school, stressing out about things... You only get one life. When you're 70 do you want to look back on your life and think "Wow, I missed out on living my life because I was too worried about everything else." Work hard, study hard, do what you have to do, be successful, but you HAVE to take at least a moment a day to enjoy life. You can only take so much before you have a nervous breakdown, and that's not productive at all. It's easier to prevent a nervous breakdown than it is to deal with one as it's happening.

Lord grant me the strength to change the things I can, the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Remember you're only one person. Do your best and that's all that you can do. Accept the fact that you aren't Superman and you don't have magic powers. You're just one mortal and there is a limit to your abilities. And THAT'S OKAY. Be proud that you did the best you could. That's all anyone can ask of you.