At the End of It? Call On Your "Go-To" Experts

We've all read how to better managing stress by making optimum lifestyle choices. Eating organically grown produce and antibiotic/hormone-free meats and poultry, get plenty of rest, exercise, avoid stimulants/depressants, pray/meditate, and make time for friends, family, fun and laughter are all very helpful in managing daily stress. But what happens when extraordinary events give way to creating mayhem in your life?

Being faced with the loss -- loved ones, employment, home, and the ability to provide for family, divorce, etc., financial ruin, bankruptcy, legal jeopardy, judgements, and things that you never dreamed would ever happen in your life (or even exist in the world) can create a sense of hopelessness and despair, and take us to a very challenging emotional place. Friends and family --- the support system we once relied on --- may fall by the wayside when encumbered by too many phone calls. It's not necessarily about you -- remember, everyone has their own set of challenges and are sometimes unable to take on more than their own. People can only give what they have to give. Nonetheless, it leaves us feeling isolated -- as if no one understands or cares -- but don't go there. Don't give in.

Yes, these times are challenging, and may you feel as though you're at the end of it --- and you are! -- you're at the end of whatever "that" cycle was in your life. Consider it "lesson learned", and move forward. Life lessons don't end --- they just go on to the next level.

We all know people. Many of the people we know are experts in what they do. If we don't know who we need to know, we know people who know who we need to know. Make sense? Think 6 degrees of separation. When you really think about it, many of us are only 1 or 2 "degrees" from whomever it is who can help us move though a crisis.

So rather than unloading a huge financial crisis on your best friend who isn't an accountant or banker (for example), making them feel badly that they can't help (risking your privacy), simply ask if they know someone who is an expert in whatever it is you need. You may be surprised who they know! You may get the perfect referral AND get to know your friends and family better --- and keep your relationships stress-free.

Leave the stress to the experts -- and appreciate that they do what they do best.

OC

PS---or you could just give it all up to God.