Change Your Perspective, Relieve Stress
I once heard a German friend tell his young niece who had just bumped her knee - it’s OK, little one, it will be better by the time you get married. Her sobbing calmed to sniffling as she considered that idea. And moments later, she was up again, running and laughing with her sister.
What a neat thing to watch. What happened there? A slight shift in perspective seemed to have made quite a difference.
We can find ways to relieve our stress, as well, by just changing our own perspective a little.
Next time you’re feeling stressed by something (and that may be when you’re feeling rushed, easily irritated, pressured, impatient, your throat is feeling tight, your voice has risen in pitch) try asking yourself if this will matter by the time you get married. Or some appropriately distant time in the future.
Will this distress you’re feeling over this (fill-in-the-blank) matter 10 years from now? Or, for some specific examples, will this distress I’m feeling over this (broken dish or traffic jam or slow checkout line or infuriating editorial) matter 10 years from now? It’s not likely.
And when there’s a moment to sit down, try making a list of 10 things you were stressed about last year at this time.
How do they seem to you today? Is it possible you have reached that someday when you can laugh at them?
Now make a new list of things that are bothering you currently and ask yourself whether they’re likely to still be problems next year at this time.
Or the year after that.
Or 5 years from now.
Or by the time you get married.
Can you let yourself feel a little shift in perspective? And maybe a little sense of release? And the beginning of calm?
And you might be starting to think it will be OK. Could you be ready to laugh?
Perhaps not yet, but chances are pretty good you can recognize it’ll be better by the time you get married. And that little shift can be enough to make all the difference.