Stress and pressure

Pressure:

          when there's so much to do in so little time

Stress:
         when there's too much to do in too little time, and the same results are expected.

         when you're already running at a constant 110% and you're asked to pull out all stops
         when you got sucked in to saying "Yes" - again

         when someone else makes a mistake
         when someone else makes a mistake and denies it or won't fix it or pay for it
         when someone else doesn't care

         when you know you should have, but you didn't, and now you can't

         when the rule-maker breaks the rules
         when they take you for granted
         when you're given two conflicting sets of instructions and expected to adhere to them both
         when you're not given the tools to do the job

         when you're expected to read their mind
                              (and think about this: common knowledge is common only to those
                                      who have it - can we really expect it of another?)

        when you get past all the opposition and are about to score - and they move the goal-posts

Stress is when any of the above is done to me by some other human, whether they're work-mates, play-mates, family-members or my better half. But how often are we guilty of adding stress to any of those, and especially in how much we expect from our kids?

So here's a thought: it's pressure that creates diamonds, and without stress you'd never hear the beat of a drum or the sounds of a symphony - and maybe the stress we feel is really just our own ineffective way of responding to stuff...

I discovered a long time ago I'm never going to achieve everything on my To Do list, and I also decided I'm not going to worry about it. I'm sorry if that's caused you any stress...