Happiness

I sometimes work with clients that have had too much stress for a very long time. They have tried many things to lower their stress level. Some of those things work for them and some don’t. The things that helped lower the level of stress at one time are no longer working for them, and it’s not for lack of trying! They ask me why this is.

It is at this point that I use the analogy of the “straw that broke the camel’s back” to explain what’s happening.

Just in case you aren’t familiar with the idiom, picture a camel with a metric butt-tonne (that’s a lot - LOL) of straw on it’s back. The camel is still able to stand. You add one more piece of straw to the heap, the load is unbearable and the camel collapses.

Now, let’s extrapolate from the typical idiom. If you were to remove the last straw that was added, the load is bearable again.

But if in the meantime, even more pieces of straw were added before you removed the “last straw”, the load is still unbearable even though “the last straw” was removed.

This is what my clients experience. The load of life is weighing heavy on them and finally “the last straw” breaks them, leading them to try, change, or do something different in their life. And it might work; that exercise, pill, diet might remove “the last straw”, making the load bearable again, so they can function.

But what if the next time when that “last straw” is added, the circumstances of life added 3 more straws before you could remove “the last straw” from the pile? That exercise, pill, diet that “worked” before doesn’t “work” this time. Now, you are off looking for something else to remove “the last straw”, again.

And maybe you find something that does remove it and the 3 other straws…but you are still carrying this metric butt-tonne of straw.

What if instead of looking to remove one straw, we remove the load? What if instead of carrying around this weight that is always on the verge of being too much, we learn to set it down? How would life be different? Imagine how light and free that camel (you) would feel!

If you can’t get out of bed in the morning, instead of turning to a constant drip of coffee to give you your desired energy for the day, what if you learned to let go of the feelings of unworthiness that sap your energy and keep you in bed? What else would be different if you learned to let that go?

If you overeat and can’t stop yourself, instead of locking the food in the cupboards and giving the key to a trusted friend, what if you learned to let go of the anxiety and distressing feelings that pushes you to the food? What else would be different if you learned to let that go?

If you procrastinate, instead of seeking the perfect day planner/scheduling app to force yourself to get going or setting up the perfect rewards system for each little step taken, what if you learned to let go of the fear of doing things wrong that holds you back from trying? What else would be different if you learned to let that go?

The heavy load is made of beliefs, emotions, and experiences that we unconsciously think we need to hold on to in order to function and be “safe” in the world as we perceive it. The load is the learnings we gathered throughout our life that may have served us at one time but are no longer serving us now. This is blocking our energy, happiness, creativity, confidence, authenticity…and other good stuff!

It is not necessary to carry the heavy load. It is time to put it down and be free.

I love working with people, just like you, who are ready to find freedom from the heavy load they carry. Find out how, here.

Here’s to conquering stress.

With heart,

Louise

The Stress Experts