Stress can be so draining.

What helps me a lot is having a little bit of understanding about the mechanics of stress. Stress in nature is usually about situations of life or death. It seems that human beings give a sense of life or death importance to things that are not actually matters of life and death.

I have seen people stress out over getting a good parking spot or getting the shortest checkout line in a store.

I've heard that reducing stress is about training the mind to not give a sense of life or death urgency to things that are not life or death.

It isn't easy and takes a lot of practice. I'm still training myself but have found that it helps me quite a bit.

Expectations are often sources of stress. So many people have unrealistic expectations regarding themselves, others and things in general.

One attitude of unrealistic expectations is called 'perfectionism' the belief that only the perfect is good or that anything less than the perfect is bad.

If I expect myself, others or things and events in the world to be perfect, near-perfect or ideal, it will lead to a lot of unnecessary stress because things are limited and finite and not perfect.

People who can lower their expectations seem to be less stresed and happier too.

When I am feeling stress build up I try to ask myself: "Is this a matter of life or death urgency?" Usually it isn't and I start to calm down.

When I first started to train myself to be less stressed I posted little notes all around my house on which were the words: NOT LIFE OR DEATH. I put one in my car too, on my sun visor. lol.

I hope you find something that works for you since stress can really be a ruiner of peace and joy of living.

Sometimes stress is linked to a sense that one's self worth is vulnerable to things outside of one's control, like the opinions of others. People who feel that there self worth is ontological are often less stressed by life.

Since I am not a doctor or medical professional, I cannot offer advice that anyone should rely on.

I can only share what has helped me. But like I said, I do hope you find things that help you.

Your posts here on the Forums are so interesting and help so many people.

If you are interested, there is a very informative 2 minute 57 second video on the work of one of the leading experts on stress in the world. It is called: ] It is called Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers a Youtube video.

-- Yao Wen