Dive deep into one of these good books about managing yourself. You’ll feel better after reading at least one of them.
Daily stress can wear a person down. Not only can it cause a headache, it can be a detriment to several aspects of your life. In order to start ridding your life of stress, you need to first acknowledge that you’re fed up. Author Jeanne Ricks provides helpful tips in her book The Biology of Beating Stress. “Be in the moment,” Ricks says, “and not on auto-pilot.” Next, learn to use the “STOP Technique,” which requires that you tell yourself to stop whatever you’re doing, “absorb the scene around you,” relax, and breathe. Ricks’ instructions are useful reminders because they’re accessible, easy to understand, and can be implemented with little-to-no money and almost no experience in this kind of self-improvement. Breathe and beat the stress. Available for purchase here.
Good or bad. Happy or sad. There is no “perfect” life, but there are ways to live a meaningful life. Author Charles E. Dodgen writes in his book Simple Lessons for a Better Life, when we reach Senior Status, we become “dispossessed of the material features that defined… identities.” Dodgen says that’s the “original identity theft,” and while there’s no alternative to this loss, we can learn to cope with it. Everyone endures suffering and pain to some degree, but there is a way to separate the two. “Pain in life is inevitable,” but a good support system can help overcome it to the point of toleration. This book may help you relax about things, or it may not. It’s up to you. Available for purchase here.
You were this close to getting what you wanted. That big raise, the promotion; it was all within your grasp, until everything fell through. But that’s life right? Pick yourself up and try, try again. Learning to deal with “feeling sorry for yourself” may be the right thing to do by reading Tina Gilbertson’s “Constructive Wallowing.” The point, says Gilbertson, is that “how we deal with our feelings has an impact on how quickly we’re able to bounce back from setbacks large and small.” The trick, she says, is not to change your emotions or suppress them, since stuffing them down puts them in an “escalation cycle.” Instead, acknowledge them, allow yourself to feel them, and then let them run their course. Available for purchase here.
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Contributions from Terri Schlichenmeyer
