A Stress Proof Life… Is that Really Possible?

So I had a chance to read “Stress Proof Your Life” (still free for your kindle as of today) as mentioned in a post earlier this week. To be fair, I didn’t actually read the entire book but I paged through it while inhaling my lunch…so I probably get points off for that.

I liked the writer’s tone and the fact that she didn’t try to pretend that there are some people out there with a totally stress-free existence:

“Stress will find you. You can’t avoid it. Stress is a fact of life. We can make some of it go away, we can ignore some of it, but eventually we will have to deal with it.”

So, apparently stress is some sort of ninja private eye that nobody can hide from. Ok. I’m down with that. I know that I feel stress and pretty much everyone I talks to feels it too. So, what can we do about it?

Well, as promised, the book offers 52 tips which range from everything like “never procrastinate again” to “ditching the debt.” Each chapter goes into what she means by the silly titles, how to fix the issue and then a little Q&A section about how to use the lesson in everyday life.

Here are my three favorites:*

Find an hour a day to play
Think about what you’d do today if you had a whole hour to yourself.  Now make time for it. People who spend at least a bit of their time doing the stuff they want to tend to feel that they’re in control, and that’s majorly de-stressing.

What’s Your Plan B
The life you’re living is Plan A. Plan B is what happens if it all goes pear-shaped. Know how you’d get from A to B and you remove a huge chunk of the stress that is caused by worry about the future. Work, relationships, health – whatever is causing you stress, make a Plan B. Your Plan B should be realistic, but it should be awesome. It shouldn’t be a case of “oh well, I could always move back in with my parents.’ It should be training to become a chef, starting your own business, backpacking around Mexico. It should make your heart sing.  Plan realistically but dream big.

Have a Holiday at Your Desk
Imbue the old nine-to-five with certain glamour and you’ll be amazed at how much tension seeps out of your life. What five changes would make your work environment more pleasant? Here are the authors: getting rid of piles of papers that need to be filed; investing in a china cup and no more sharing of the office’s grubby chipped ones; cheering up her desk with a bunch of pink tulips; cleaning her keyboard; turning down the ringtone volume on her phone. Everyday find some way to make your surroundings more pleasant.

Since these three tips resonated with me the most in my one handed reading/eating extravaganza, I’m going to try and focus on them for the next week or so. I mean what’s the worst that can happen – I’ll end up more stressed?

*FYI – For most of the tips section, I fully copied sentences straight from the book, so all credit goes to the writer.