Nutrition for Your Soul When Sucess Equals Stress

Do you ever have those days where you feel amazingly, astonishingly productive but overwhelmed at the same time?

Your heart races, your head spins and somehow minutes turn into hours. I suppose the feeling I am describing is equivalent to that of hiking the highest mountain; adrenaline pumping disbelief meets a combination of your sappy self functioning on total sleep deprivation.

Wait, what did you say Sarah Jessica Parker voice that I hear through this blog?

That's the feeling of: SUCCESS? 

Are you sure? 

Why does it always seem to be that the actions associated with success often equal STRESS?

Now, I am not talking about stress in a "bad" context. Admittedly, stress is a huge source of many people's motivation.

Stress creates a sense of urgency when you need to meet a deadline. It can help provide that extra push you need to make sure you aren't late to a meeting. We experience stress so subliminally that it takes a lot more to stress us out then it should. To add to this, many of us experience the symptoms of stress--headaches, loss of energy and appetite, grinding our teeth, insert your stressful symptom (___________)--without even realizing that any of those things have occurred until the work day is done. And, we collapse into bed.

Sucess Equals Stress Examined Further
Is this an ideal imposed on us by society or worse, by ourselves? Can we celebrate a day that does not start off with formulating the "to-do" list, working through the "to-do" list then thinking about the next "to-do" list while we have yet to finish calling, faxing, emailing, texting and tweeting? (some people still fax!)

What can we do to shift the energy from stress into the positive energy force of momentum?

The Jaclyn of All Trades acronym for MOMENTUM is:
Making Opportunities Match Expectations Necessary To Unleash Magic

I shift the gears into momentum mode by seeking "nutrition for my soul."

Yes, you heard correct. When I need to be less stressed, I look for things I can listen to or read that revert me back to childhood when stress wasn't on the daily menu. Back then, life was about having fun, dreaming big and exploring childlike wonder.

As an adult, nutrition for my soul helps reorganize the way I spend my energy by placing the concept of time into total perspective so that life is fun again.

And my most recent favorite source of this soulful juice is the Holstee Manifesto.

Beautiful, right? Read it again. How do you feel? A little less.....stressed?

The brains behind the Holstee manifesto definitely practice what they preach. As their website points out, "Holstee began as a dream (that it's founders) Mike, Dave and Fabian had to create a lifestyle for themselves - a lifestyle which reflects their manifesto. Holstee designs and curates with the hopes that each product and its inherent story inspires others to follow their dream. A closely knit community of fans has been growing around Holstee products, curated items, the music they listen to, and experiences they share."

When I need to be recharged, when my momentum is starting to diminish, I pick any one of the quotes from above and apply them in the appropriate context to the actions of my daily life.

Which of the quotes above really speaks to you? Do you think the actions of success equal stress? What do you do to manage it all? Inquiring minds would like to know, we can all benefit by learning from eachother.

All in all, I hope you like the Holstee Manifesto as much as I do. I hope it replenishes you in the areas you need most. It's mid week. We still have those goals to accomplish. Celebrate each step and stride and even if you fall short or get off track, remember: "Getting lost will help you find yourself." Or at least help you find some nutrition for your soul.

Signing off,

The Jaclyn of All Trades