Let it Be

Last Saturday I had big plans.  I was going to wake up early to be first in line at the mechanic for a safety inspection, so I could be done early enough to be first in line at the DMV before it opened, so I could register my car and get my new driver’s license.  My wife was joining me in this adventure, so that meant two safety inspections, two car registrations, and two licenses.

We pulled into the mechanic a few minutes after opening, only to discover that this particular place required appointments for safety inspections and didn’t have any openings until Monday.  So, we headed back to our cars to research other places to get the inspection done.  After spending 20 minutes (my intention to be at the DMV to line up before it opened was now totally shot), the best option was to drop our cars off at a place that could get them done sometime by the afternoon - which wouldn’t work because then we would have no transportation and needed to make other afternoon appointments.  I was stressed.  Here I was, trying so hard to be responsible and get things taken care of and the world was not cooperating!  I was too off center to think straight, so my wife took charge.  We decided to go to the other place, drop off my car, and just get as much done as we could, given the circumstances.  I plugged the address into the GPS and off we went.  

As I was taking a freeway exit, I was informed that I had arrived at my destination.  According to GPS, the mechanic was located on the freeway!  My stress level increased significantly.  With a bit more effort we finally found the place about half a mile from where GPS thought it was, dropped off my car, and decided to go get breakfast.  (We hadn’t eaten before hand, because my plan was so great that we could go home after accomplishing a monumental task faster than it had ever been done before, and have breakfast before being hungry.  HA!)

To shorten the rest of this long story, I was able to work myself out of my stress shortly before breakfast.  The mechanic got my car done much faster than they thought so we were able to swap cars after breakfast, get the driver’s licenses taken care of, and get ourselves set up to license the cars with relative ease the next week.  All things considered, we got a TON handled.

I tell this story to highlight this point.  Everything that we got done would still have been taken care of without my stress.  In fact, if I hadn’t been so stressed, we would have gone to the new mechanic right away, rather than making another 10 calls to try to find something better.  If I hadn’t been so pissed about things not working out, I probably would have noticed right away that the GPS thought the address was in the middle of the freeway.  Stress never, ever, NEVER helps at all, and being stressed is a choice.  It may not seem like it at the time, but the only reason we ever feel stress is because we are thinking stressful thoughts.  Rather than fighting what is and getting stressed, let it be.  Work with what you have to work with rather than focusing on how screwed you are because your plan isn’t working out.  I could have accomplished just as much, maybe more, without stressing myself out.  All I got out of the deal was an hour in a hell of my own creation.  

So the next time you are feeling stressed, remind yourself that the stress isn’t helping.  Being stressed never has helped solve anything and it never will.  It takes practice.  It takes awareness.  But, it is possible to let go of the stress, let it be, and get it handled.