I was listening to a Selected Shorts podcast while driving in the car the other day. I can’t remember what the story was called or who wrote it, but it was a well-written and entertaining story about a woman who was rather bravely living and working by herself in The Big City (the story took place in the 1940s or 1950s). In the story, the woman was rushing around preparing for her sister’s arrival that afternoon, by train, from their hometown in the country. She had her time planned to the minute. If she walked quickly, she could wait and leave her apartment at 4:17. This would give her enough time to clean the kitchen, boil the eggs for dinner, and tidy the living room before leaving… (Paraphrased from my rather poor memory).
This part of the story struck a cord with me. Have you ever noticed that as multitaskers, living in big cities, struggling to get everything done at work, mindfully raising kids, etc. etc, that we do this? That we plan our time to the minute? That we rush, all the time, in order to meet all those deadlines? That every second of every day is filled to the brim, until we fall into bed, exhausted at the end of each day? And that we actually, unbelievably, do this to ourselves?!
How can we stop this? How can we reduce this crazy, self-induced stress?
There is the obvious tip of not planning to do so many things in one day. But how would we then have it all?!
Among the 196 tips you’ve already heard, here are a few:
- Simplify.
- Moderate use of technology.
- Participate in de-stressing activities.
- Let go of expectations.
- Use a mantra.
- Drop the less pleasant, harder activities from the day.
And here is stress reduction tip number 197:
Drive five miles an hour slower than you instinctively want to drive.
Try it. See how you feel when you get to that next urgent appointment. How did it feel?
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