Finding Joy in Stressful Situations
By Linda Fodrini‐Johnson, MA, MFT, CMC
Founder & Chairman, Eldercare Services
Finding joy in stressful situations can be difficult. When you are in a situation, like traffic slow down, and there is nothing you can do about it – do you breathe deeply and try not to be overly stressed? Or does your blood boil and your blood pressure elevate?
We often find ourselves in some type of unpleasant situation from slow computers to long waits for a call back from repair persons or standing in long lines to traffic slowdowns. Most of these situations are outside of our control. We can choose to be stressed, or we can take that deep breath and scan our environment for some focus on “peace, beauty or gratefulness” – sometimes it can be a stretch.
I find just taking that deep breath and scanning my environment – like the picture on this blog – helps me to find the beauty to still my spirit (of course I was not driving at the time – so I could take the picture). However, it reminded me if I was driving, I could have just taken a deep breath and been grateful for the splendor before me in the sky.
Sometimes the environment can be devoid of beauty, and that is the time I am grateful for something specific in my life. I thank my creator for that special someone, or that kind person that helped me with a project or a problem. Just being thankful in times of stress can lower our stress level and get us through the challenging moments or hours. Gratitude is key for finding joy in stressful situations.