Running Away and Joining the Traveling Circus.

When I was a kid, the saying you heard was "I'm gonna run away from home and join the traveling circus". Or I'm going to join the French Foreign Legion to forget. I guess you could still do those things when you are at your last nerve and feel like running screaming into the night. The problem is that most of our concerns would just follow us or our conscience would haunt us for leaving. How does one cope with the stressors we have today, surely today's problems are worse than ever in history.

Well the first step is to know thine enemy. Just what is it that's stressing you? I know make a list right? The kids, the spouse, money, sex, your own physical condition, work, yep most of us could go on and on and on. But, and I'm talking to myself here also, our problems today are really no worse than what people have been going through since man and woman first met and decided to set up housekeeping.

Yes our economy is frog flippin awful, our kids are surely brainless, our spouse just doesn't get it sometimes and I'm sure that work is someones idea of a sick joke. But nothing has really changed since time began. We are more high tech and better informed and sometimes I wonder if that really is a good thing. But do we have it any worse than the generations before us? Probably not.

Instead of dwelling on the many things that are pulling at you constantly, think about some of the things that relax you and make you feel good. A long warm snugly hug is one of the most awesome things there is and many of us don't do that nearly enough. That 30 second hug break is a great quicky feel good. Start making it a point to hug your favorite other at least twice a day, and especially before you are apart for the day and after you are together again.

For many of us an exercise break is a welcome change of pace from the day. We talked before about making an appointment for ourselves, we are just as important as any other appointment we keep. Sometimes our sanity depends on it. Getting your heart rate up and getting your body flowing smoothes out the days kinks and makes you feel not only better but younger and more able to cope with the days trials.

Work for most of us is a necessary evil. But it can be fun and it can be mentally rewarding, or it can be a constant drain on our self esteem and energy. Try this, go to work with a smile on your face. It's contagious and makes other people smile to. Keep things in perspective, the boss has been the same since the days of whipping the slaves to make them row faster, his job is still to whip us but now it's mental rather than physical. We just have to make sure we are not the slowest rower.

One of the things we want to avoid at all costs is doing the things to relieve stress that makes us feel worse about ourselves when we do them. Things like over eating and drinking. We might be able to lose our troubles in a large pizza before bed and a couple or more beers, but that just really ends up making us feel worse.

Thanks for reading.

Needing a vacation Panda