Put The Glass Down.

‘A psychologist walked around a room while teaching stress management to an audience. As she raised a glass of water, everyone expected they’d be asked the “half empty or half full” question. Instead, with a smile on her face she inquired, “How heavy is this glass of water?” The answers called out ranged from 8oz to 20 oz.

She replied, “The absolute weight doesn’t matter. It depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute, its not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have an ache in my arm. If I hold it for a day, my arm will feel numb and paralyzed. In each case, the weight of the glass doesn’t change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.”

She continued, “The stress and worries in life are like that glass of water. Think about them for a while and nothing happens. Think about them for a big longer and they begin to hurt. And if you think about them all day long, you will feel paralyzed – incapable of doing anything.” Always remember to put the glass down.’ – Found on Tumblr, here.

Stress and worry have a cumulative effect. Most of this year, I’ve been stressing and worrying about things rather than taking action. I’ve let these worries and the emotional weight of them pull me down into paralysis.

I know that I haven’t slipped into full blown depression, because I’ve still been able to feel things; sometimes it is how much you feel these things that seems to be the problem. Yet at the same time, I know that it is human to feel things, whether good or bad, and that it is always good to face those feelings rather than push them down and push them deeper inside. I let those feelings stop me from writing half as much as I would have liked to – writer’s block that wasn’t quite writer’s block because I kept blogging and writing articles.

I’m finding it hard to write today. It’s midway through NaBloPoMo but I’ve only just written today’s blog post, and I know it isn’t what I wanted it to be. Maybe I’m feeling a bit burnt out: so many of my posts have been longer, in-depth ones recently. It’s just one of those days, and I’m trying hard not to read too much into it, just in case I find myself freezing again. This is one of those fears that are self-defeating – being afraid of freezing or paralysis will eventually lead there anyway. Yes – I didn’t say I wasn’t neurotic. At the same time, all this blogging is making me realise that I can’t sustain blogging and publishing a post every day, at least not without scheduling.

At least I’m beginning to put my worries down – glass by glass. They are not holding me ransom like they did for most of this year.

‘Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.’ – Corrie ten Boom.