Absolute weight

So, after an ER visit and a long week of pain I have decided to come up with better stress management ideas. My lovely friend Violet sent me this :


When explaining stress management to an audience, a lecturer raised a glass of water and asked, "How heavy is this glass of water?" Answers called out ranged from 8oz. To 20oz.

The lecturer replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance. In each case it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."

He continued, "And that's the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on. As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden. So tonight put down the burdens of work and life. You can pick it up tomorrow."

This is actually the only thing that clicked with me. It did not matter too much to me that my health was at stake because i thought it was a once in lifetime thing. It didn't click that people kept saying you need to relax because I don't run around like a chicken with its head cut off so my lack of relaxation was not apparent to me. But this did...What I want is to possess strength. And to have strength is not to carry it all until your body weakens and collapses beneath the weight. Strength is knowing when to stop, break, get help so when you finish you are just as strong when you started. That is what I will try.