FIRST IMPRESSIONS CAN be hard to shake, can’t they? When you picked up this book, you might have thought that when the twenty-one days were over, you could go back to your old lifestyle and still be less stressed. I hope you realize by now that you must implement the skills you’ve learned indefinitely in order to sustain your progress. Whatever you do, don’t quit working the program because you’re still at the genesis of a new lifestyle.
To stop doing what you know how to do would be like turning off the engines on a rocket just leaving the launch pad. There’s no better way to ensure a crash. If you quit now, you are destined to crash back into chronic stress. It’s inevitable. You’ve just begun a new, less-stressed life. Your job now is to keep flying with your new skills. If you do, you’ll eventually find yourself enjoying a life that is full of a peace you have never known.
If you are determined to stay the course to experience a less-stressed life, concentrate on sustaining the following activities.
RELAXATION
Your assignments for the last eighteen days has included some form of progressive relaxation because that will help you shut down the stress response in your body. Many people who reach this point in the program rejoice in the fact that they can stop devoting twenty minutes a day to progressive relaxation. Why?
Relaxation is the foundation of a less-stressed life. I concede that you might not have to be as regimented with your relaxation because you want these exercises to serve you—you don’t want to serve them. But ultimately you will never be sorry when you devote enough time to consistently and systematically relax your body. Don’t quit the relaxation; keep it up on a regular basis to give your body a dose of stress relief.
YOUR PERSONAL SYSTEM FOR MANAGING STRESS
It’s easy to get cocky at this point in the program if you are experiencing a marked decline in your stress levels. The more relief you feel from stress, the more likely you are to tune out from your thoughts and feelings on a minute-by-minute basis. No matter how confident you’re feeling, don’t get sloppy about implementing your personal system for managing stress. It’s still incredibly important that you engage your personal system early in any stress process.
Many people ask if it will still be necessary for them to fill out all seven columns on the stress log when they begin to feel stressed. My response is that it varies, depending on the person’s comfort level with his personal system. If the individual still struggles to implement his personal system in multiple environments because he isn’t quite sure what to do next, the stress log can help him unpack his inner experience. Having an awareness of their thoughts and feelings can help clients implement their personal system with the most efficiency.
My advice to you is to keep filling in all seven columns of the stress log until you are very comfortable cluing in to your inner experience. This will help you implement your personal system with ease and effectiveness.
RADICAL LIFESTYLE CHANGE
We have covered at length the benefit of pursuing a lifestyle that includes exercise, creating margin in your schedule, doing what you love to do, and engaging supportive relationships. Considering the research regarding these matters, it seems clear that in order to sustain the less-stressed life you should pursue all these activities. However, I want you to focus on exercise in particular.
You were encouraged to work out an exercise plan on Day Fourteen. Although there was little pressure to implement your exercise regimen at that time, you committed to yourself that you would start exercising after you completed the Stress Relief for Life program. Well, today is the last day, and there is no better time to start an exercise program than tomorrow. My encouragement to you is simple: take the time you have created in your schedule for this program and use it to complete your exercise routine. Exercising will only move you further along on your journey to a less-stressed life.
CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES, COME ON!
Have you ever heard the 1970s hit “Celebration” by Kool & the Gang? From the first “Yeah-hoo,” there’s something about the song that just makes you want to jump to your feet.
All you have to do is go down to your local karaoke night to see how powerful this song can be. Most people don’t just sing “Celebration”; they experience the song, complete with choreographed dance moves they perform with reckless abandon. There is no doubt: most people get into “Celebration” whenever or wherever they hear it.
Here’s the thing that strikes me as funny: if people were half as good at actually celebrating as they are at getting into this song, we would be a lot less stressed as a society. When is the last time you put as much energy into celebrating yourself and what God has done in your life as you can put into singing “Celebration”?
As a general rule, people who have a tendency to be stressed-out don’t take much time for celebrating. They don’t celebrate themselves, and they don’t celebrate God. Stressed-out people are too busy completing the next task on their to-do list to stop and reward themselves for a job well done.
If you are serious about sustaining the less-stressed life, get comfortable with celebration. Celebrate yourself, and celebrate God when you reach milestones in your journey toward the less-stressed life. When you finally live the new story in a scary and difficult environment, do something special for yourself. Go out to dinner or buy a new CD. When you complete your exercise routine for the thirtieth straight day, reward yourself. Buy a new outfit to complement your waning waistline, or take time to call an old friend and just chat.
But most importantly, when you accomplish significant goals that push you toward the less-stressed life, celebrate God. Celebrate His power working in your life and His faithfulness to give you peace. I think it’s fair to say that the ability to truly celebrate yourself and God after an accomplishment is diagnostic in nature. It indicates that you are well on your way to living the new story and recognizing how much God loves you. If you are serious about sustaining the less-stressed life, celebrate good times.
As someone who has completed all twenty-one days of the Stress Relief for Life program, you should start celebrating yourself today. You have put a significant amount of energy toward completing this program, and it is worthy of celebration. You deserve to pamper yourself and to love God for giving you the stamina to complete the program.
Today I want you to think of one way you can celebrate yourself for finishing the program. Then think of what you can do to celebrate God because He empowered you to complete all twenty-one days. You can use the worksheet included at the end of today’s reading to write out your plan to celebrate your success.
ASSIGNMENT
• Complete the Celebrate Good Times worksheet.
• Practice passive or active relaxation for twenty minutes.
• Log thoughts, feelings, and behavior three times a day after breakfast, after lunch, and before bedtime using the stress log.
• Complete all seven columns of the stress log and implement your personal system for managing stress when you begin to feel stressed.
CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES
Congratulations! You’ve completed the Stress Relief for Life program. How are you going to celebrate yourself for your commitment to pursue a less-stressed life? What can you do to celebrate God and His commitment to your peace? Write out your plan to celebrate in the space provided below.
STRESS LOG
This stress log will help you practice becoming more aware of the emotions you experience when your stress begins. It should be completed daily beginning on Day Six of the Stress Relief for Life program. If you encounter a stressful experience during your day, fill out the entire row under the appropriate time period. If you don’t have a stressful experience, complete only the first four columns.
