A Stress-Reduction Tip You Can Use Daily

One of my favorite expressions is original in Yiddish – it translates roughly into English as, “With one ass, you can’t dance at two weddings.”

Someone told me that a long time ago after I was describing all the things I was trying to accomplish in life. They recognized from what I said that it was time for me to take a break.

Recently, someone told me about their own experiences being over-stressed at work. Although many people at work told this person they seemed overstressed, they didn’t necessarily feel it.  We are so good at getting used to stress, we are often last one to recognize when we need a break.

That’s because stress is kind of like thirst. By the time you experience thirst, it’s likely your body already needed some kind of hydration.  With stress, by the time we feel over-tired, not sleeping well, being too anxious/worrying about things, keyed-up all the time, chances are we were over-stressed already.

If that describes you, consider how you might implement some brief stress reducers into a single day.

I take one 5-10 minute break in the morning and two similar breaks in the afternoon. I may take a quick walk, do some stretching, or watch a funny video. I find when I take even short breaks (even as short as five minutes), I come back focused, energized, and ready to get on to the next task.

Try taking a few quick, easy breaks throughout the day, and see if it helps restore energy and focus and avoid some of the more significant impacts of stress.