If you’ve been burning the candle on both ends, trying to push through, then this is for you.  You’re tired, your mind is exhausted and taking forever to process things, you hardly get anything done, if you even do, and procrastination is becoming your new best friend.

You’re so caught up and wrapped up, in the middle of all your stress that you no longer are able to see the bigger picture.  You can’t see what’s really going on and you can’t see a way out.

Here’s a little story and I think it will be familiar and make you laugh.
The other day I was in the bathroom.  I like to replace my eyeliner and mascara if they’ve been around for quite a while and I decided to buy new ones.  So I wanted to write down the exact name and type on my shopping list.  The eyeliner was there right in front of me, no problem, but I couldn’t find the mascara.  I started looking in the cupboard, in a beauty bag, in my office, in my handbag… I practically went through the entire house and I couldn’t find the mascara.  Where was it???

I checked the bathroom a second time, nowhere to be found.   Later that day, I went to the toilet, yep, too much information.  As I was sitting there, calm and relaxed as you are when you’re there, my eyes dwelled across the bathroom and … I saw my mascara!  It was standing there in front of the mirror, 10 centimeters behind my eyeliner.

No matter how hard I had been looking before, I did not see it.  Have you ever looked for something and couldn’t find it?

Have you discovered that the more you push through and force it, the worse it gets?  I didn’t think I was stressed, but I was in some sort of stress state and the mascara went into my blindspot.   That’s exactly what happens when you’re stressed.  You lose your ability to see the big picture, the details, to create, to invent, and to come up with solutions.  You’re stuck in survival.

Why are you stressed?  What happened that got you there?

Let’s start at the very beginning.  Your childhood and what you picked up as a young child.  Were you a highly stressed little baby?  I doubt it.  Being stressed is something you created a long time ago and grew over time.  It’s a reaction that you kept repeating until it became your normal reaction, even your normal behavior.   And on top of that, the reaction has been growing stronger. 

At first, you may have reacted lightly, but since you’ve repeated that over and over, your reaction is now over the top compared to the little thing that is the cause.  There’s no need to freak out over an email, right.  It’s just an email.  It’s not life-threatening, but your whole system reacts to it as if it were.

So that’s you creating it, subconsciously of course.

Next there’s your environment.  Did you grow up in a family where being stressed was ‘the normal’?  Did you hear your mom or dad complain about stress, about how stressful their day had been?  About how tired they were after a whole day of …. fill in the blank.  Their co-worker being so annoying, their boss being a pain in the **, the pressure of getting too much work done in too little time…

I bet you were exposed to lines like that.  You may have forgotten, but your subconscious hasn’t.  She remembers.  All of it.

Being stressed and busy also has become the ultimate badge of honor.  Let’s be honest, if a friend, soccer mom, coworker or business bestie asks you how you’re doing, you’re supposed to say something in the lines of ‘I’m busy’, or ‘I’m stressed’.  Imagine the reaction if you’d answer ‘I’m doing great, just relaxing and having an amazing time’.  Can you see the look on their face?

You’ve been conditioned to work hard and stress is just part of life.  You’re supposed to suck it up and keep going.

So now that you know a bit more about how you created stress, what’s next?

Well, to keep it simple: you no longer want to be stressed.  Stress is the number one thing you want to leave your life and you just can’t figure out how.

If you’re anything like me, you’ve gone to doctors for years, with all kinds of symptoms (belly, stomach, muscles, headaches), and all they had for you was ‘you’re too stressed, you should reduce your stress, go for a walk or something’.

So you did, you tried to do all the things that blogs, self-help books, and YouTube videos suggested to combat stress.  ‘5 tips to delete stress forever’.  How amazing does that sound?

Well, exactly that, it Sounds amazing.  And that’s all it is.  You intend to do it, give it a go, or you even make a huge promise to yourself you’re going to stick to it.  But just like a diet that’s not designed for you, it doesn’t work and you give up or forget after day 2.

Why is that, you may wonder?

 

The key is to be found on the inside, not in doing more.

Right now you are stressed because you are stressed, you are a stressed person.  Say what???  Yep, it’s as simple as that.  You are stressed because you are a stressed person.  If you were a person who wasn’t a stressed person, you wouldn’t be stressing out about every tiny thing.  But you do.

 

Have a look at your life right now.  What does it look like?  Are you in the habit of getting frustrated or angry at things that are very important to you but are irrelevant to others, especially to those you are getting angry at?  And stressing about.  Are you getting angry about your husband who puts his dirty coffee cup on the counter on top of the dishwasher rather than in it?  Are you stressing already, watching him, only to be proven right, he’s done it again!  Imagine that!  After all the times you’ve told him, asked him, made a fuss about is… he’s still not doing it.  So you stress, get angry – often on the inside – let it ruin your whole day, only to repeat the same thing the next morning.  Because he’s not gonna change tomorrow.  He’s not magically gonna hear your whisper, have a lightning bulb moment, feel total regret, apologize and start doing it right.

Nope, not gonna happen.  Not in a million years.

And you’re frustrated.  You’re trying to take your business online and create your big vision: the freedom-based business where you can make money even if you’re not working.  You have a unique medicine to share through your coaching or programs, but you’re so frustrated as you’re trying to figure out how to set it all up.   Skipping ahead here because I want you to feel hope that there’s a way out, this is exactly what I help my clients with.  As we go through the process and I teach them step-by-step what they need and how to do it, their Exhausted Inner Fighter starts to turn into the Liberated entrepreneur they dream to be.

This stressed for another 10 years! No way!

So, if you’ve read so far, and you realize, geez, is that what my life is going to look like for the next year, for the next 20 years?  Am I really going to let online tech and apps keep me stuck?  Am I really going to keep letting some stupid dirty cup ruin my day, take my energy and get me all worked up, angry and stressed on top of everything else?  

 

Yep, that’s the thing, it’s on top of everything else.  It’s never just the one thing that makes you stressed.  There’s a pattern because how you react to that dirty cup is how you react to the toilet seat and to the things in your business and to the guy who cuts you off in traffic.  The worst thing is, you can’t find the pattern because it’s a habit.  You’re in the habit of being stressed and reacting to things that aren’t going the way you want them to. 

So you’re stressed.

And you want out.

This stress has got to stop!

You deserve to be calm and happy, enjoying your life and feeling energized, doing what you love, whether it’s a stress-free peaceful breakfast routine, a cup of coffee mid-morning enjoying your house, or running and growing your business from a state of calm and happiness.  Even grow it into the next level or empire you envision.

 

Here’s how you can get there. 

Step 1: Go back to the previous paragraph, read it again, let it sink in, and start looking for a pattern.  In which areas of your life do you behave in the same way that makes you stressed?

Step 2: Download the Freedom Business Starter Kit here to start brainstorming how to make it happen.  Ready for action and make a serious impact?  Check out my signature program Freedom Business Creators here.