Remember To Only Stress About One Thing At A Time

Traveling is fun, exciting, adventurous and above all, challenging. No one shows you the obstacles and frustrations, like the endless delays, problems with exchanging money and the classic one when you get lost without any sign of internet connection. And trust me, you will get lost no matter how accurate you have planned everything out. Traveling challenges us to be even more aware around us and especially towards ourselves. It tests our patience at times when we crave for food and water but no convenience store is within sight. Even for the calmest ones, stress is unavoidable. And we all know, stress is as deadly as smoking. Nah, I just made that up, but it could be, who knows?

As much as it is applicable when traveling, we experience stress on a daily basis due to other circumstances. I could tell you to not stress, but we all know that it’s impossible to not to because it’s in our human nature to stress in order to protect ourselves and keep ourselves sharp. It’s hard to distinguish whether to stress about a certain situation or not, but what certainly will work is to keep the focus on one thing at a time. Instead of spreading it thin and getting it all over the place, just decide on one spot that you give yourself permission to make a mess of it. What helps to decide on what to stress about is to focus on the consequences of things that already have happened and current situations which transpire into obvious results that will work against you. Keep off yourself thinking of all the worse case possibilities of things that aren’t even have happened yet. Keep the stress carefully stored in one place, don’t let it all get spilled, making your vision blurry and your mind stuffy.

It’s too easy to let stress takes on the lead and makes you even further away to stay rational and calm. Our body fuels itself with the stress hormone cortisol when things aren’t going the way you have imagined it would be or when you sense danger is around the corner. This is such a broad context that you can get stress any time of the day, no matter in what amount. The moment when it hits your system, it’s hard to have it under control and what started with one problem may multiply into more and before you know it, a mental breakdown comes knocking on your door to pay an unwelcoming visit to you. And no one in this whole wide universe is waiting for a visit on a quiet Thursday afternoon, especially when you don’t expect anyone and just want to be left alone with bliss and peace.

Stress about one thing at a time.

In this way, we actually make some good use out of something that otherwise just drag us into a spiral of stress about things that haven’t even have happened yet. Trust me, I’m an expert in stressing about things in the far, far future while I am sure it’s much more productive and healthy to use that same amount of stress to focus on my current issues in the present day and turn it into motivation instead.

Why fight it when you can use it for your own sake? 

Stress about one thing at a time and use it in your favor to turn it into motivation instead to help you trigger all that worries your mind.