Stressed Out?
Face it…life is stressful. In fact if we didn’t have any stress at all in our life at best we would be bored and at worst we would die at an early age. We need a certain level of stress in our lives. The problem is that much of the stress that we encounter day to day is a result of our own choices and decisions.
What I find to be the biggest offender is the lack of margin in our lives. As an example…
Are you barely making it on time to that gig? You didn’t leave an extra “margin” of time to get there…to allow for the unexpected.
Are you strapped financially and living month to month—day to day? We’ve all encountered periods of our lives that are like this. Is this your lifestyle? If so what margin can you create in your life to have some extra set aside. How about an emergency fund or a few months of expenses set aside. I know that it is hard to do. As a matter of fact it took me nine months to get a $1,000 emergency fund set aside. But piece by piece that gives me some margin and some peace of mind.
How about margin in your relationships? Are you taking time to nurture the relationships that mean the most to you?
These are all areas that I am working on. It is a daily process and really helps to refocus and change the levels of stress that you encounter. Let’s just put it this way…by creating margin in all of the areas of your life you will move from an unhealthy level of stress to a healthy level that will actually give you energy and joy!
Also don’t forget that many people that have a strong religious faith (a close relationship to God and a church home) are much more likely to have a better handle on stress and live a healthier life as a result.
There’s a fantastic book on this that I recommend highly by Richard Swenson. The book is Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives.
I’m going to address this more in future posts with ideas and helps specific to the life of a musician. More to come!
