We’re all stressed, right? Whether you’re having problems at work, problems with money, problems with friends, or problems at home, it’s usually pretty difficult to completely avoid some form of stress. I know that I’ve certainly been feeling stressed lately, as I’m sure quite a few of us have. On top of everything else going on in our lives, now (all of a sudden, right?) the holiday season is upon us! I personally love the holidays – Christmas is most definitely my favorite time of year, despite the colder weather that I positively loathe; I’m a Texas girl through & through, and much prefer the hotter-than-average summer weather that we’re traditionally blessed with. I’ll take 100° over 40° any day of the week.
Anyway, back to this talk about stress (sorry, I’m very easily sidetracked) – one way that I’ve found to be helpful lately in dealing with stress, is trying to put things into perspective. For instance, have you seen that movie Captain Phillips? Well if you haven’t, I really do recommend it; it’s a very well done movie, though it might seem a little long. Okay, I know this might seem like I’m getting off-topic here, but just stay with me – I promise, there’s a point to this. There’s a scene in the movie where the navy captain guy (I’m pretty sure he was a captain) that was initially in charge of the rescue mission, is getting ready in the morning. If you have seen the movie you’ll probably remember the scene, and if you haven’t, I’m sorry if I spoil anything. In fact, let’s go ahead and put a *Spoiler Alert*, just in case. 🙂
Okay so in the scene, navy captain guy is getting dressed, putting shoes on, etc., and he goes to the bathroom sink to splash water on his face. There’s a moment when he just stands there, looking in the mirror, and that’s when this whole matter of perspective hit me. Obviously this was just a movie, but it is based on a true story – this character is an actual person, and I can’t even imagine the level of stress that he felt at that moment. Suddenly, my life didn’t seem so stressful. Okay, my job is important to me, and to a lot of people, and it can certainly be pretty stressful at times. That being said though, if I mess something up at work, nobody is going to be kidnapped/killed by Somali pirates. I can pretty much count on that never happening because of something that I did or didn’t do. When I stopped to think about the hundreds/thousands/millions of people out there that do have truly stressful jobs – jobs where other people’s lives depend on them, well…that certainly put things into perspective.
May you never be kidnapped by Somali pirates!
-Gin
