School? Friends? Boyfriend? Parents? Spouse? Teachers? Children? Finances? Traffic?

How do you deal with frustration?

Pray? Eat? Cry? Exercise? Sleep? Yell? Whine? Medicate? Drink?

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Don’t do this:

This is how I deal with stress: (do not follow my example)

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Not all stress is the same, but it certainly feels like a load on our shoulders. Sometimes we need some perspective.

Stress is:

• having less than $10 in your bank account and the water bill is about to auto-draft
• losing your job and not having 3-6 months expenses in an emergency fund
• hearing your child/spouse/you has cancer
• being charged thousands of dollars on a bill you don’t owe and no one will help you fight it
• dealing with an alcoholic spouse/parent
• moving to a new state and upon arrival, learning your condo fell through, forcing you to live in a hotel
• taking care of someone with a disability
• seeing the number from a debt collector on your cell phone screen
• finding out something is wrong with your child
• not having enough money for groceries
• losing a loved one

• having a messy house
• choosing which outfit to wear
• breaking a nail
• learning your son needs glasses
• mundane

I’m stressed because my book deadline is eight days away, but when I think about some of the issues my friends and family are dealing with, I’m pretty lucky. No one is going to die if every word isn’t perfect. I’m not going to lose my home or family if there is a misspelled word. There would be consequences, however, but in the scheme of things it’s not that bad.

To the people I love, you are in my prayers. Some of you are dealing with some horrible situations and you’re doing it with grace, class, and your faith in God who is holding you in the storm is testament to all of us.

So, the next I get freaked out by a messy house, a dinner that didn’t cook right, or not being able to find something to wear, I’ll put my “dilemma” into perspective.

And let’s always remember:

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