Are you hiding behind your stress?

When I talk to clients who are stressed, I have noticed they have one thing in common. Actually, they have more things in common but one stands out for me.

They all seem to be running around, doing this, doing that and if they have a spare minute, they decide to re-arrange the furniture or straighten up the books on the shelves, just to do “something”.

At the same time, they claim, they are tired. They have no time just to sit and relax, because if they did, they would earn less money and the competition would snatch their niche, and so on and so on. When asked if that is an ideal life for them they say no but no other life is possible, period. And then they start talking about travelling to new places and taking walks by the ocean and relaxing with a book, while having this dreaming look in their eyes as if those activities were only allowed for royalty.

The trouble comes, when I share my piece of honesty with them, pointing out that they are clearly running away and hiding from something, most probably from themselves.

In all fairness, such is the nature of many of us. Running in circles, complaining all the same, describing how life would be outside the circle and then sadly concluding that we don’t have enough courage to break free. Why is that so? What can be so difficult?

The truth is, it is often easier to make millions than to sit down and admit that we are not happy with our lives. It is easier to train for a marathon than resign from a job that bores us but represents stability. It is easier to complain than break patterns and habits and possibly get a bit shaken in the process.

Yet the truth eventually catches up with us, should it be in the form of sickness, getting divorced, being fired, the forms are endless. When you think about it, isn’t it just easier to sit down, do an honest and thorough evaluation of your life right now and start implementing changes bit by bit?

Look at it this way. When the action comes from you, it is much more honorable and easier than when somebody has to do it for you. Don’t you agree?