Re-Assess Your Stress

Recently, I was having 'one of those days' where everything seemed to be conspiring to create a Perfect Storm of Stress. The stressors seemed to build on one another, with each difficult situation triggering several more. I don't need to go into particulars here--if you've ever had a day with such stressors, you know what I mean. It could be the phone call delivering bad news that makes you late to an important meeting, causing you to speed and get a ticket, and finally show up to the meeting extra-late, sweaty and agitated from stress, and flustered rather than focused. Or it could be the flu that sent your child home from school miserable, spreading itself around the family, effectively canceling plans and requiring make-up work at school and at work. You get the idea.

As I was relaying the day's stressors to my husband (he's a great listener on bad days), I realized that none of the stressors I was facing were a major threat to my safety or lifestyle, and that a simple positive reframe could put my day back on track.

That realization changed everything.

Having plenty of experience with the positive reframe (once I catch myself and put it into practice, that is), I am quickly able to see many positive events from the day that I'd missed, and better appreciate the day as a whole--especially the portion of the day that happenes after my little shift.

Because I was grateful to have realized the role I could play in relieving my stress right on the spot, my day was transformed back into a much happier one, as I'd been expecting it to be. I was also inspired to share the technique with you. The following articles can help you to become adept at using a positive reframe when you face stressful days like the one I was having.

How have you pulled yourself out of the depths of a bad day? What are your favorite quotes or reframe tricks to find the positive in the negative? Feel free to share in the comments section (subscribe to the RSS feed if you want to see follow-up comments), or on the Facebook page About Stress Management. And if you want to brighten someone's day, you can pass this along via the 'share' button. Enjoy your day!

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