What can be done to enjoy a reduced stress life? How can it be achieved and how difficult is it to do. During my working life, I have travelled quite a lot. I don’t mean travelled for a holiday although I have done that I have travelled primarily for work.
The type of work I am associated with does involve staying in hotels and sometimes in meetings; however, I am generally in a working environment with the ordinary people working in industrial settings of multiple types.
Of course, it means that I meet a wide range of people of various ages and disciplines from cleaners to doctors of engineering. Meeting people in this manner means I get to know people. I have been to their homes attended weddings and met whole families for social occasions.
I have always found that no matter the type of person. What their religious beliefs, their age or their gender. And I have met all sorts from the delightful to the ignorant. They all have the same requirements in life.
- A dry secure place to live.
- Safety, (low crime, good policing etc.)
- Food on the table.
- Clothes on their back.
- Schooling, for a future for their kids.
- A good job that makes everything mentioned above possible.
Everything else is stress making, although everyone needs some things around them.
A car may be essential for work travel, but does it have to be the most expensive model? Whenever I want something, I ask myself questions. Am I having this to show off? Do I need this?
Everything extra that you have creates stress.
Reduce Not Create Stress
I have a long-standing friend who wants for nothing. He has over 100 acres of land, flies his aircraft from one of his fields, has his lake and several boats he went to the best schools and theoretically has everything he could ever want.
He only buys old cars, and when they break down, he spends hours on the phone trying to get the cheapest deal to fix it. Now to my mind, that is stupid. Why stress himself out over repairs. It is not the money; it is the mindset.
He buys old Rolls Royce cars. The parts are a fortune. He could easily buy a new regular car that could have years of warranty on it so no repair bills. He would also have spare cash in his pocket from what he would spend on an old Rolls Royce.
His mindset is I look good in a roller but I wouldn’t in a regular car. He has his Rolls Royce to show off.
All of this means he has stress in his life although he could easily remove the pressure if he didn’t need to show off.
Spare Time
In my spare time, I make furniture. Not fancy stuff, I make the odd table or bookcase. Now I can’t handle large sheets of material I am moving them on my own, and I can’t physically get them into where I work.
My tools consist of a hand saw, a chisel (just the one.) A screwdriver, A small plane, two small clamps and as of last week an electric sander. The sander was a present, or I would have continued sanding by hand.
I use 40mm by 20mm strips of pine. I can handle those very easily, as they are light and only four meters long, and when I need a board, I glue and dowel the strips together side by side. Does it take a lot of time? Yes, of course, it does. I don’t mind the time I am doing it because I enjoy working with wood. The feel and the smell are gorgeous, and if anything gets damaged, I strip it down, remove the damaged part and rebuild it again. It will probably last longer than I will.
Now I could go out and buy a circular saw; I could buy an electric planer or a router to make fancy shapes in my wood. All of these would save time. That means I would spend less time doing what I enjoy doing, so what would be the point?
By looking at my life, I was able to reduce the stressful activities and do the things that I enjoy. Others have changed to a local job on less money to reduce travelling time and the money saved on needing a new car every few years, maintenance costs and fuel costs have meant that the loss of income from the job has more or less made up for the lower income.
Enjoy A Reduced Stress Life
So are you going to make a list of everything you spend your money on Mark on the list what is essential and has to be retained and secondly what you can change?
The gym takes time and money. Jogging gets you outside and does the job of the treadmill. Climbing does the same work as the gym does to your arms and is enjoyable. Gardening does the same as stretching type exercises and lifting exercises in the gym.
What is more satisfying? Activities outside maybe with the family joining in, or in a gym watching a TV screen. Sometimes the TV screen shows the activities you could be doing yourself instead of watching others living their life.
Often a house that has inexpensive furniture is looked down on by others. The owners have excellent jobs and work hard at them. So why do they have everything in the home minimal. Often the reason is they travel. they have chosen to travel on every opportunity. Their lives are filled with what they love and not what others think they should have. If not used, cheap furniture doesn’t wear out. You can’t spend money on airline tickets when it is gone on expensive furniture. They don’t Try to impress they just enjoy their life.
My Take On How To Enjoy A Reduced Stress Life
A life kept simple is a happy, stress-free life. It is your life, how do you want to spend it?
Other Ways
For Me there is always happy background music during the day while enjoying my reduced stress life. I woulden’t have it any other way.
