One mistake many people make in life is to form a habit where wrong things become their refuge in times of stress. It gradually becomes a sort of reflex action, where they unconsciously gravitate towards that habit whenever they feel stressed, disappointed or down.
Let’s face it: life is stressful. That’s the fact. Staying up late to study, plan, strategise, pray is draining. Rising daily to chase after that vision with nothing guaranteed can be energy-sapping. Running through the day hearing several ‘NOs’ and having to try and try and try again can be quite stressful, to say the least. And these disappointments, failures and burdens can be quite devastating at times.
But then, we try to create time to wind off. During the weekends, for those who can, we want to spend more time with our families, do some outdoor activities, catch the much-needed sleep, eat some nice meals instead of snacks, exercise, chat with friends and watch something interesting. That’s ok.
The problem, however, is that we don’t often do the above, or we rarely do the above. We don’t wait till the weekend to do all these nice and sweet things. We want to unwind at the end of the day or the end of every stressful moment.
When we fail, get angry, irritated, disappointed, we often resort to unhealthy if not outright evil behaviour to feel good and happy. It could be eating all sorts of unhealthy things, drinking alcohol, smoking, visiting brothels, and other things that are best not mentioned. It’s as though our immediate refuge whenever anything goes wrong is to harm ourselves further or procure harm to others.
But I want to give you a few tips that could help you when stressed:
When stressed, go running.
When overwhelmed, lighten your schedule.
When disappointed, talk to a friend.
When angry, watch, read or listen to something interesting.
When you fail, pray and thank God. Then rest and try again.
When it seems like you’re losing your mind, take a good long bath/shower and sleep.
When the burden is too heavy to bear, encourage yourself in the Lord.
When discouraged, go mountain hiking.
When your mind is clouded, leave your room and walk around the city or in the woods.
When all around you fails, hold on to the Rock that never fails.
I know it may not be easy because you’ve spent years building that fort where you normally run to that it’s become a reflex action. But please unlearn it. Or if it hasn’t become a habit yet, don’t form the habit of finding refuge in things that cause you more harm. There are a number of things that are godly and healthy I’m sure you love doing. Resort to those things and leave the chocolate on the shelf. 😉
Thanks for reading. Please share this article if you found it helpful. See you tomorrow with another dose of inspiration. Have a lovely day.
