The closer that we are to Christmas the more stress I feel in my life. There is so much to do, I don’t think I have enough hours in the day/week/month to get everything done!!
When I get stressed I have a pain in my lower back, it hurts me so much I can’t walk! Therefore I am taking the time this Christmas season to releave some of the stress in my life.
However, not all stress is bad. The more we are able to prepare ourselves for the stress in our lives the better we are at in handling it. The cause of stress in people’s lives is stepping out of our comfort zones.
All of us have comfort zones. Now a comfort zone is just a term for the physical or psychological area in which we feel comfortable and at ease. When we move away from the familiar to the new and different, we are moving out of our comfort zone.
If the move is not something we choose to do or are not ready for, we feel anxiety and stress.
Most of us might be able to remember the stress that comes when experiencing something new — For example, the first time you went to school and you had the dreams of showing up to school with no pants on. Or if you have ever walked into the wrong rest room, and you got out of there as fast as you could before anyone noticed what you did!
The more comfortable we are with who we are and what we believe the easier it is to step out of our comfort zone safely. If you use techniques like affirmation and visualization to mentally take yourself out of your comfort zone safely, when it is time to deal with the real thing, instead of anxiety you will feel excitement – a good kind of stress – and you will be giving your self-esteem a boost.
This holiday season I challenge you to step out of your comfort zone. If you are comfortable coming to church on a regular basis but not really comfortable inviting a friend or family member to church……I challenge you to visualize yourself talking to a friend and inviting them to come to church with you.
If you are not comfortable coming to church….I challenge you to visualize yourself walking into church again, connecting or reconnecting with the church.
If you are comfortable coming to church, and inviting people to church…..I challenge you to think about something that might take you out of your comfort zone (preaching perhaps?)
Whatever it might be, I believe that the good stress that can come out of this can not only help you in your spiritual life but in all aspects of your life.
If you are going to a job interview, visualize yourself wowing the company and you will not only do better in the interview but you will be less stressed about it.
It may never help you walking into the wrong restroom, but you will be able to handle change more easily and deal with new situations without becoming anxious.
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