Most advice you get on stress is to avoid what you can. I don’t know that I agree.

Most of us feel stressed at the thought of going to the dentist, but you better go or risk losing your teeth or even worse having gum disease adversely affect your heart.

Here in San Antonio we have a major roadway called loop 410. This is a nightmare to drive as it is always under construction and has the jersey walls (those concrete medians) that make the lanes very narrow.

Naturally there are some places I need to go that require me to drive on 410. At first I would stress to the point of having a panic attack and someone else would have to drive me.

Using EFT and some simple mind exercises I learned to drive 410 without a stress caused panic attack. I would remind myself each time that I had driven that road before and never had an accident. I would remind myself to just stay in my lane - stay between the lines. Most important I would remind myself that I had faced this challenge before and each time I faced it, it had become a smaller event.

This road has 4 lanes and freeway speeds - unless of course it is rush hour and then it slows to a crawl with people constantly changing lanes trying to find an opening.

Would avoiding this stress have been good or bad? I overcame my fear which is the major cause of stress and in the process actually reduced my stress.

I remember a TV show about a woman who had a car accident while turning left. It left her so afraid that now when she goes somewhere she must sit and plan her route so that she makes no left turns. It may take her an hour to go somewhere that someone else could drive in 10 minutes.

Is she avoiding her stress? I don’t think so. She maintains a constant level of stress trying to find an alternate route, scheduling her trips to allow for the extra time which cuts into the time she needs for other chores or fun and she must be constantly thinking about her accident the entire time she is driving.

Yes a good therapist would be a big help for her. Facing her fear and forcing herself to face her stress would free her.

Is there a good reason to avoid stress?

Try to avoid these stressors:

Trying to be in two places at the same time
Trying to do shopping and eating during lunch time
Trying to make everyone else happy at your own expense
Trying to live on a $5,000 budget on a $1,000 income

This is when you exercise your right to say NO.

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