Be Different or be dead

February 17, 2020

5 simple ways to keep your cool

Source: Pexels

Everyone’s looking for ways to chill out these days in the face of increasing stress and chaotic unpredictable times.

“ Don’t worry about a thing, ‘Cause every little thing gonna be alright.”  — Bob Marley, is the mantra that underscores the importance of not taking stuff too seriously.

I’ve never really been a person who has been obsessed with elimination of stress.

As an ok boomer I believed that pressure and stress was just an expected part of doing my job and living my life. In any event, I had no choice to deal with it alone, because my employer didn’t offer the stress management programs offered by some organizations today.

But for those of you who want to reduce the level of stress in your lives here are a few simple things that took me to a more chilled place even though I wasn’t looking for it.

Breathe in the moment

The pause is the most important piece of the chill-out puzzle; and it’s the most difficult to do.
You have to resist the impulse to react to and strike back at the stimulus that has you poised to be uncool.

It’s really as simple as literally stepping back and taking a big deep back breath. The breath itself will force you to pause because you will automatically focus on the breath rather than the stimulus that is pressing your button.
Try it. You’ll be surprised how it will help.

Stop chasing cars

Look at whatever you call your to-do list. How long is it? If it’s more than 5 items, it’s way too long and you are entering stress-out city.

The irony is that no one is good enough at multitasking to do an effective job at many tasks simultaneously and something has to give.

When you multitask, the quality of any single task is low and the stress is high. Yup, you’re busy but the cost is out of proportion to the performance achieved.

Get control of your stress levels by purging your activity list of the tasks that have lower payback. Focus on the critical few things that MUST get done and not the 20 things that COULD be done.

Chasing the art of the possible only pumps up your stress levels.

No two tasks create the same value. Find the 2 or 3 that are amazing value creators and do them well.

Worry about what you can control

I get it. Today there are many variables that affect us; the issues are plentiful and complex.

Climate change, the environment, economic growth, gender identity, minority rights, carbon reduction, housing costs, education costs, career expectations, transportation costs and job availability are but a few of the factors that plummet the minds of young folks these days.
And no wonder the cumulative affect of these causes stress.

The question I have is: “What can you personally do about these issues?” — I can hear an “ok boomer” out there already: “Just because I can’t make a significant impact personally on climate change, you’re saying I shouldn’t be concerned about it, right Roy?”.

No, that’s not what I’m saying. What I AM saying is that if you are really serious about reducing your stress you absolutely MUST reduce the stressors in your life.
And for me, stressing over what I actually influence in the short term was an effective way of reducing my stress levels (btw, getting stressed out over an issue with a decade-long time horizon — or longer — may stroke your ego, but it extracts it’s stress toll on you TODAY with serious results).

I just think that too many people take on too many issues. It’s nice to see but it takes a personal toll which I believe is unnecessary.

And btw millennials and gen Z’ers: why do you think you’re the only generations who are faced with a confluence of difficult issues? NEWSFLASH! You’re not; those who came before you had their own as will those who will come after you — can I hear another “ok boomer”?

You have nothing to lose — but stress. Try and focus on stuff you can influence; invest your emotional time on those issues and let the rest go by having opinions but minimize your emotional investment in them.

Segue to my next point…

Leave your ego at the door

My takeaway from conversations with many millennials is that they feel obligated to dive into the controversial issues of the day; that it’s their mandate to try and fix things that have been screwed up by the “ok boomers”.

And so we get the Extinction Rebellion promulgating a doomsday narrative because past generations have mismanaged the environment so badly.

Notwithstanding that the need for climate change remediation is real, I really think these activists want to strike fear in the heart of people; this stirs their juices and feeds their egos.

How else can you explain shutting down traffic in major cities in the world because they say carbon emissions have to be reduced to zero in two years or there will an armageddon-like disaster?

Of course it’s a bogus claim that science doesn’t support so why are they making the claim? Must be because they feel good getting heard and the media attention soothes their “ok extremist” ego.

Ego feeds that stress cycle because it pumps the adrenaline and the body gets ready (fight or flight).

Maintain ego equilibrium and your stress will be assuaged.

Stay the course

Stay with your cool regimen. It will be almost impossible at times to hold back and do the healthy thing, but be confident that if you “stay with the program” you will survive the cool boot camp for the long term.

Stress isn’t a new concept; it’s not something that strikes any one demographic or societal group more than any other. The stressors may be different but that’s about it.

How to deal with stressors hasn’t changed much over time. The stuff that worked for the boomer crowd will work for millennials and Z’ers because cool remedies address human behaviour at the most fundamental level.

It’s about breath not technology; focus not multitasking; selection not chasing and honesty & respect not ego.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 2.17.20 at 03:08 am by Roy Osing
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