“Don’t be pulled in different directions or worried about anything. Be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering your faith-filled requests before God with overflowing gratitude. Tell him every detail of your life.” Philippians 4:6 Passion
Have life’s concerns overwhelmed you to the point that you’ve either lost your appetite or you’re overeating as a way of coping with circumstances that seem beyond your control? How well are you sleeping? Are you tossing and turning trying to relax so that sleep will come and you’re lying awake more hours than you’re asleep? Is your patience with other people wearing thin? Are your irritable and short-tempered with them? If you are experiencing any of these symptoms on a continuous basis, perhaps you are suffering the effects of stress.
Each year more and more adults say that they are experiencing stress. In December 2017, the Gallup Poll stated that eight in ten Americans were reporting high stress. What is contributing to rising stress levels in our work environments, marriages or personal lives? More and more college students and even children report increased stress levels. Why are we constantly feeling so overwhelmed? Our quality of life is radically better than people had who lived 100 hundred years ago. We have better houses, better cars, better schools. We have access to material possessions like washers and dryers, luxury automobiles, microwaves and cell phones that were not available to our forefathers. Children of earlier eras did not have access to school buses or parent drop-off, but they still had to get to school. Yet for all of our material possessions, we are experiencing more and more stress. Why aren’t our stress levels decreasing as our quality of life improves? It doesn’t seem to make any sense. Or does it? Are there hidden factors going on? I think there are. Here are a few that I would like you to consider as possible contributors to your rising sense of stress.
- Unreasonable expectations. You expect too much from yourself and from others. If you set unreasonable expectations, ones that neither you nor others can fulfil, you end up frustrated-and frustration leads to stress. One of the most damaging ways to set up unreasonable expectations is to compare yourself to others. Instead of measuring yourself against others, focus on becoming the best version of yourself. Yes, it takes a lot of work to figure out who you really are, but it is worth it. Don’t settle for being a poor copy of someone else.
- Expending too much time and energy on people and activities that do not bring you a return on your investment of time. How often we hear people say frantically, “I’ve just got too much to do. How will I ever get it all done?” They’ve forgotten that time is valuable currency, and they need to think about the way they’re spending it. When you spend time and energy on people and activities that do not bring you a return, it leads to a perception that there is never enough time for everything. Of course, you end up feeling overwhelmed.
- Not setting and committing to your priorities. A daily “to do” list can help you prioritize your daily activities. Setting your priorities will keep you from living on auto-pilot, just trying to get through each day as best you can. Not only that, a “to do” list will help you to live each day with the measure of focus you need to be productive. The satisfaction of feeling productive can lead to contentment, and contentment is a great reducer of stress!
These are just a few of the most obvious ways you might reduce the stress in your life. There are others that go much deeper. However, they do require a change of attitude. As long as you believe that stress is inescapable, de-stressing your life will seem an unattainable goal. So you have to look at it in a different way. Not only is de-stressing your life an attainable goal, it is a necessary goal. Unbroken stress is a terrible thing. Think about the damage it does to every aspect of our lives. Stress overload can lead to irregular sleep patterns, anxiety attacks, and all kinds of serious health ills. Stress creates tension within families, robbing them of times of joy and celebration. Over-stressed husbands and wives, instead of loving and trusting each other, can find themselves arguing and resenting each other. Stressed parents and children can lose perspective and start fighting over things that hardly count at all. Stress can lead to severe mental health issues, like depression and irrational rage.
Life is not supposed to be like this. You and I were not created to live stress-filled lives. The Bible offers solutions that will help you de-stress your life. To help you to remember the principles, I have created an acronym that I call P.A.U.S.E.
- Practice RED. Rest, exercise and proper diet (RED), can help to de-stress your life. Both exercise and a healthy diet make for deeper, more healing sleep, and all three give energy for the tasks ahead. Get enough sleep and make sure it’s good sleep. As for exercise, even if you’re not someone who likes to work out, you can still take a good walk every day. When it comes to diet, don’t skip meals, and eat healthy foods. Food is your body’s fuel. You wouldn’t put cheap-grade gasoline in your vehicle, so why would you put unhealthy food into your body? And what about all that coffee you’re drinking? I know you’ve got that work project or that term paper to complete by tomorrow morning, and you’ve just got to stay awake tonight, but limit your intake of caffeine anyway. It may get you through the project, but it will leave you restless and wreck the quality of your sleep. Without adequate sleep, exercise and proper diet, our bodies cannot hold up. When they are stressed, it’s easy to lose our sense of connection to God. Psalm 37:7, encourages us to quiet our hearts in God’s presence and pray. Learn to care for your body so that you rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him to bring His solutions for issues you are confronted with.
- Attitude matters. Accept what you cannot change and trust God to bring His best into your life. We have God’s own Word to guide us in this: Trust in the Lord completely, and do not rely on your own opinions. With all your heart rely on him to guide you, and he will lead you in every decision you make. Become intimate with him in whatever you do, and he will lead you wherever you go. Don’t think for a moment that you know it all. Proverbs 3:5-6 Passion
- Understand your limitations. Each of us has limitations. Try not to be ashamed of them but look at them instead as holy places where God can enter our lives. During the times you feel limited or incapable or incompetent, God helps us in our weakness. Trust that God is with you and will help you to come through difficult situations. Don’t be afraid or too prideful to ask for help. Let the Spirit of God show you those around you who can support you during difficult times. Often our weaknesses, limitations, and broken places become our greatest blessings as they allow God’s presence to come into us.
- Spirituality. Don’t neglect your spiritual life. Philippians 4:6 encourages us to be saturated with prayer throughout each day, offering our faith-filled requests before God with overflowing gratitude. When you turn to God, placing your burdens before him, you are in the right position. When we wait patiently for God, He fills us with His peace, lifting us above the stress of life. Start each day with a conversation with God. Allow Him to fill you with His peace, joy and strength as you enter each day.
- Expect. God desires good things for you. Expect Him to respond to your needs at the right time and in the right way. Matthew 6 tells us that God watches over the birds of the air, clothing and feeding them. If God cares for nature, He will also take care of you. Expect God to respond. God’s thoughts toward you are thoughts of peace (Jeremiah 29:11) and not destruction. If you will wait and trust Him, He will help you to walk in peace, experiencing a de-stressed life.
There is no better time than today to begin de-stressing your life. Don’t allow stress to rob you of living the life God has planned for you. De-stressing your life is not a one-time event. It’s a constant work-in-progress and you will need to commit to this process each day. But it is worth it. Let’s get started!
