Okay so whoever came up with this saying? I hear it all the time, but it doesn’t get any easier to take when life comes by and kicks you!!

I have been dealing with a great deal of stress in my life lately and until today I have been letting it get the better of me, but this morning I decided that it was time to fight back. See I firmly believe that stress can kill because it is amazing the things it is doing to me right now. I have lost all my energy and have been at a standstill to find it. All I want to do is find my bed and sleep until all my problems go away!!

As an entrepreneur, energy is a huge requirement in the success of our business because it is so easy to walk away and say “I’ll deal with that later”!! So how is an entrepreneur to deal with it … the answer “look it straight int he eyes and let it know it can’t win!!”

My goal (since it’s a new month it’s a great time to set new goals) is to do everything I can to not let stress beat me out. Here are the 5 things I am going to put into place to help me cope:

• Write things out and stick to my list. When we have other things on our mind it is so easy to forget about things. I have even taken the extra step to highlight the entries in my to do list … yellow means I must tackle this today, pink can wait until the yellows are done and the blues just need to be done before the week is over.
• Set up rewards. I am going to reward myself for sticking by my new goal by enjoying something at the end of a successful day. Since for me, writing is an enjoyment, I am going to allow myself after completing 4 things on my to do list to take an hour off to write (which is what I am doing right now by writing this post!!). This gives me something to look forward to and makes it easier to get through my tasks each day
• Take breaks. So many times we get so caught up in what is going on we forget to take a second and just breathe. One of the biggest reasons we get so exhausted and tired when faced with stress is that we spend so much time worrying that we forget to give ourselves a break from the stress and just relax, take a deep breathe and enjoy the good things that are happening in our lives.
• Stop letting my stress consume me. Oh this one is going to be the hardest one since I find it so hard not to let my thoughts keep returning to the stressors in my life!! However, I am sure that this continual thinking is actually compiling the stress … and truly, if I can’t do anything to change it right at that moment is thinking about it accomplishing anything?
• Do something proactive. Okay so although I said I wasn’t going to be continually thinking about my stressors, I will be brainstorming something I can do to change it … a step (no matter how big or small) that will make a difference … instead of complaining I am going to become proactive and do one little thing each day to try to change that stress … although I know it can’t be eliminated completely, by doing one little thing to move me towards change I know that stress will slowly become a thing of the past

So now I throw it back to you … how is it that you deal with stress? When staying positive seems so hard, how do you stay positive anyways? Do you hide your stressors to the point that no one knows any different? Or does everyone know to stay clear of you?

I’d love to hear your feedback and ideas for how you are handling the stresses that life throws your way!! How are you fighting stress and allowing it to make you stronger?