Transform Your Home with a Calm and Flexible Wellness Space
For busy parents juggling work, caregiving, and a shaky nervous system, the home can feel like the one place that should help with anxiety management, yet the most “available” spot is often a clutter-prone corner of a multipurpose room. When the same space holds laundry piles, kids’ gear, and tomorrow’s to-dos, starting a workout or settling into quiet can trigger space anxiety challenges instead of relief. A home wellness space doesn’t need to be perfect to offer real mental health support, but it does need to feel steady and forgiving. The goal is a room that can flex between movement and rest without adding pressure.
What a Flexible Wellness Room Really Is
A flexible wellness room is a simple setup that supports more than one kind of care, without making you reorganize your whole life. Think of it as a designated quiet area that can also handle gentle movement, stretching, or recovery. The point is to create a few repeatable cues so your body knows what to do when you enter.
It matters because multipurpose design reduces decision fatigue. When the mat, blanket, and timer always live in the same place, self care feels like a smaller step. That steady baseline can make anxiety friendly routines easier to start and easier to return to.
Picture a corner that shifts modes in under a minute: chair turns toward a calm wall, lamp goes warm, and one basket holds your essentials. You are not choosing between “workout space” or “relax space.” You are choosing what you need today. Comfort still counts, so the air, temperature, and ventilation need to cooperate too.
Steady Air, Steady Nerves: Tune Your HVAC for Comfort
When your wellness room is meant to soothe as much as it strengthens, the air you breathe becomes part of the calm. Upgrading your HVAC can make a multipurpose space feel steady and supportive in every season: better air circulation helps the room feel less stuffy during workouts, while consistent temperature control keeps you from swinging between overheated and chilled as you move from training to recovery or relaxation.
A well-performing system can also reduce humidity and cut down on allergens, which helps the room feel cleaner and more comfortable, small physical irritations that can otherwise spike discomfort and make it harder to settle. If your system needs attention and you’re ordering components, stick with reputable suppliers for quality, durability, and proper fit, especially when sourcing replacement parts for HVAC systems so everything stays compatible with your setup.
Build Your Wellness Room Plan: Layout, Light, Storage, Materials
A calm, flexible wellness space doesn’t require a huge room, it needs a plan that keeps movement easy, air comfortable, and visual clutter low. Use these steps to map a layout you can actually maintain on real-life days.
Map your “clear zone” first (then build around it): Measure the room and tape off a rectangle where you can move safely, aim for at least a yoga-mat length plus a little extra on all sides. Keep that zone free of furniture so it works for stretching, bodyweight workouts, or a quick breathing reset. Place your biggest items (bike, bench, rower) outside that zone so the center stays flexible.
Design by mini-zones: move, recover, reset: Split the room into 2–3 purposes so you’re not constantly rearranging: a movement zone, a recovery corner, and a small “reset” spot by a chair or cushion. Helpful planning prompts like the wellness room questions make you decide who uses the space, what they do there, and how much room each activity needs. Even in a small room, a recovery corner can be as simple as a folded throw, a bolster, and space for your feet-up-the-wall pose.
Treat airflow like part of the layout: Keep supply vents, returns, and thermostats clear, no curtains, tall shelves, or hanging racks blocking them. If the previous HVAC tune-up improved comfort, protect those gains by positioning high-sweat activities where air moves best and leaving at least a few inches of breathing room around vents. If you’re adding a door, choose one that won’t pinch airflow under it if your system depends on return air through gaps.
Layer your lighting: bright for movement, soft for recovery: Put your “work” light on a dimmer or use two circuits so you can switch moods fast. For workouts, aim for even overhead light that reduces shadows; for recovery, add a warmer lamp or wall light near your calm corner so you’re not stuck under glare. If reflections stress you out, angle lights away from mirrors or choose matte finishes around the mirror wall.
Build storage that disappears in 60 seconds: Plan one “drop zone” basket for the gear you use weekly, and one closed cabinet or closet section for everything else. Hooks behind the door can hold bands and jump ropes; a shallow shelf can park a rolled mat so it’s off the floor. The goal is a quick reset routine: pick up, hang, close, no decision fatigue.
Choose versatile, calm-looking materials that can take a workout: Prioritize wipeable, low-sheen surfaces, matte paint, closed storage fronts, and flooring that handles sweat and bare feet. If you’re remodeling, pick finishes that feel good for relaxation but won’t look “too gym,” keeping lifestyle appeal today while staying flexible for future needs. A simple palette (two neutrals plus one accent) helps the room feel settled even when equipment is out.
Wellness Space Q&A: Calm, Flexible, and Low-Stress
Q: What are common anxiety triggers I should watch for in a wellness space?A: Harsh glare, clutter piles, loud fans, and strong smells can be surprisingly activating. Even routine habits matter, since five cups of coffee can increase anxiety for some people. Start by choosing one “calm default” setup: softer lighting, a clear floor area, and a scent-free baseline.
Q: How can I keep the room flexible without constantly rearranging furniture?A: Use lightweight, movable pieces like a folding screen, nesting tables, and a storage ottoman. Choose multi-use gear you can tuck away fast, such as resistance bands, a yoga strap, or a compact step. If it takes more than a minute to switch activities, simplify the setup.
Q: What if my wellness room is also my office or guest room?A: That can work beautifully if each purpose has a clear “home.” Keep a small bin for work items and a separate bin for wellness items so you can swap modes quickly. A washable throw and a lamp with warm bulbs can shift the mood without changing the whole room.
Q: When should I do maintenance so it does not become another stressor?A: Tie it to an existing rhythm instead of willpower, like a 5-minute reset on Sundays. Many people find fall is an amazing time to handle a few checklist tasks while schedules feel more predictable. Keep your routine tiny: wipe surfaces, empty the basket, and check airflow paths.
Make One Calm Change and Let Your Home Support You
It’s easy to crave a peaceful home while feeling stuck between big remodel decisions and the fear of getting it wrong. A calm, flexible mindset, one that prioritizes comfort, simplicity, and choice, keeps home remodeling inspiration grounded in real life, not pressure. With that approach, a wellness space becomes a steady source of wellness space motivation, making self-care at home feel natural and creating peaceful environments that hold up through changing seasons. Start small, stay consistent, and let your space meet you where you are.
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Beat Burnout and Build Balance with Smart Career Strategies
Busy professionals juggling deadlines, family needs, and constant connectivity often get trapped in a loop: work-life balance challenges push stress higher, stress fuels anxiety, and anxiety makes recovery from career burnout feel out of reach. The hardest part is that burnout can look like a performance problem while anxiety feels like a personal failing, even when both are rooted in stress-related mental health strain. When the anxiety and burnout link goes unrecognized, rest starts to feel unproductive and work starts to feel unsafe. Recognizing the pattern is the first step to changing it.
Understanding Burnout vs. Anxiety Under Chronic Stress
Burnout and anxiety are not the same label, and clinicians treat them differently. Still, they can feel identical day to day because long-running pressure pushes the same internal alarm systems. When stress is your nervous system’s adaptive response, the body can stay stuck in high gear and produce shared warning signs.
This matters because you can catch the overlap early, before it turns into months of exhaustion and worry. Naming what is happening helps you choose the right fix, like recovery habits for burnout and calming tools for anxiety. It also reduces the shame loop that keeps you overworking.
Picture an email notification that never stops. At first it is motivating, then it becomes distracting, and soon you cannot focus or sleep. The same nonstop signal can show up as irritability, brain fog, dread, or feeling numb. With those signals clear, career growth can be planned with pacing, role targets, and stackable learning.
Advance Without Overload: A Flexible Upskilling Path That Fits
When chronic stress is already stretching your capacity, the “right” next career move is one that builds momentum without demanding more of your life. An online degree can be a practical way to keep advancing on a flexible schedule: you’re adding in-demand skills and opening doors to growth opportunities while still protecting the routines that keep you steady outside of work.
Because coursework is designed to fit around an existing job, you can keep moving forward without turning self-improvement into another source of pressure, and that can help reduce the risk of pushing yourself toward burnout. If you’re interested in an IT path, pairing a degree with industry-recognized certifications can expand the roles you’re qualified for and sharpen the specific skills employers look for.
Use These 7 Daily Resets to Lower Stress Fast
Burnout usually isn’t one big crash, it’s a slow drain. These quick daily resets help you calm your nervous system, protect your time, and keep your career growth sustainable.
Do a 10-minute “stress walk” (no phone): Step outside and walk at a comfortable pace for 10 minutes, focusing on long exhales. Light movement helps burn off stress hormones and can shift anxious energy into something your body can process. If you’re studying for a new credential, use this as a “chapter break” so your brain actually absorbs what you learn.
Use the 60-second breath reset before you reply: Before sending a tense email or joining a meeting, inhale for 4 seconds, exhale for 6 seconds, and repeat 5 times. Longer exhales cue your body that you’re safe, which reduces impulsive reactions. This is especially helpful when you’re juggling work plus a flexible upskilling plan, your goal is steadier effort, not constant urgency.
Build a “steady mood plate” once a day: Aim for protein + fiber + color at one meal or snack: Greek yogurt + berries, eggs + spinach, or beans + rice + salsa. Stable blood sugar supports steadier energy and fewer stress spikes, and a nutrient-dense diet is one of the simplest ways to support mental health. Keep it easy by stocking 2–3 default options you can assemble in under 5 minutes.
Try a fast physical reset: cold rinse or face splash: When you feel overloaded, do 30–60 seconds of cool water at the end of a shower or splash cold water on your face. Some people use this as a quick self-care jolt because taking cold showers may increase endorphins and support circulation. If cold water isn’t for you, swap in a 2-minute stretch: neck rolls, shoulder circles, and a forward fold.
Delegate with a “trade, don’t dump” script: Pick one task that drains you and ask for a swap: “I can take X this week if you can handle Y.” Delegating works best when it’s specific, time-bound, and fair, think 1–2 tasks, not your whole workload. You’re not avoiding responsibility; you’re protecting capacity so your core work (and your learning goals) stay high quality.
Set one boundary that saves 30 minutes today: Choose a single rule like “no meetings during the first hour,” “email twice a day,” or “hard stop at 6:00.” Add a short message you can reuse: “I’m heads-down until 2, can you send it in writing?” Small boundaries prevent burnout by reducing constant context-switching.
Reconnect to what you enjoy in work, on purpose: Spend 5 minutes listing: tasks you like, tasks you’re good at, and tasks that move you toward your target role. Then redesign tomorrow by adding one “spark” block, 15 minutes for a curious problem, a helpful teammate check-in, or a small portfolio improvement tied to your upskilling path. Meaning lowers stress because you feel more agency, even during busy seasons.
Burnout and Balance: Quick Answers to Real Concerns
Q: How do I know if it’s burnout or just a busy season?A: A busy season still has recovery built in, while burnout keeps taking even when deadlines pass. Burnout is often a byproduct of extreme stress that lingers and starts affecting sleep, mood, focus, and patience. If you are not bouncing back after rest, treat it as a signal, not a flaw.
Q: What can I do in two minutes when work anxiety spikes?A: Slow your exhale, relax your jaw, and name one next action you can complete in five minutes. Then choose the smallest “close the loop” task, like sending one clarifying message or outlining three bullet points.
Q: Can I set boundaries without hurting my reputation?A: Yes, especially when you frame them as quality protection. A lot of people fear their career would be negatively impacted by speaking up, so keep it practical: offer a time window, a priority list, and a clear delivery date.
Q: Should I talk to my manager about workload if I’m already behind?A: Yes, and lead with facts, not feelings. Bring a short list of what is on your plate, what is at risk, and two options for tradeoffs you can agree on today.
Q: How do I keep growing my career without burning out again?A: Choose “low-lift” growth: one skill, one tiny practice, one repeatable schedule block. Consistency beats intensity when you want progress that still leaves room for life.
Create Sustainable Balance with One Repeatable Habit
Burnout often shows up when the days keep filling up, but recovery keeps getting postponed, and work-life balance motivation starts to fade. The steadier path is the mindset this guide has leaned on: small, intentional choices that protect energy and align priorities, supported by consistent self-care importance. Over time, that approach builds sustainable career success, making it easier to keep achieving fulfillment at work and home without running on fumes. Balance returns when the small, supportive habit becomes the default. Pick one burnout recovery encouragement habit to practice this week and repeat it until it feels normal. That’s how resilience grows, quietly, steadily, and in a way that supports health, focus, and connection for the long haul.
How to Navigate Life’s Big Changes and Come Out Stronger
Busy caregivers, mid-career professionals, and adults rebuilding after loss or illness often discover that major life changes don’t arrive one at a time; they stack up and disrupt routines, relationships, and identity. The core tension of personal transitions is simple and brutal: life keeps moving while emotions lag, and daily responsibilities still demand attention. Between grief, relief, guilt, anger, and numbness, even capable people can feel unsteady in the face of new adult life events and unfamiliar life challenges. The good news is that navigating uncertainty is a learnable skill, and emotional resilience can be strengthened with the right focus.
Quick Summary: Navigating Big Life Changes
Recognize the transition, name what feels uncertain, and focus on what you can control.
Create a simple plan with small, steady steps that make change feel manageable.
Build resilience by leaning on support systems and practicing healthy coping mechanisms.
Adapt your expectations, stay flexible, and adjust your approach as new information emerges.
Reframe the experience as growth, using lessons learned to move forward stronger.
Understanding Psychological Adaptation
When change hits, it helps to name what’s happening.
Psychological adaptation is your mind and body learning a new normal after a disruption. Psychological adaptation theory describes it as adjusting your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors so you can cope and keep functioning. A steadying toolkit combines emotional intelligence to label what you feel, resilience thinking to focus on what you can influence, and cognitive reframing to shift the story you tell yourself.
This matters because stress is not always a danger signal; it is often a demand signal. With 55 percent of Americans feeling stressed during the day, learning to read your stress response can prevent impulsive choices. You get better at responding in ways that protect relationships, health, and momentum.
Picture a job loss: your chest tightens, and your brain says, “I’m failing.” You pause, name the fear, and reframe it as “I’m in transition, and I can take the next step.” That single shift makes planning feel possible again.
That steadier mindset is what makes an entrepreneurial pivot feel doable, not overwhelming.
Turn a Career Setback Into a Startup: A Doable Reinvention Path
Once you understand how adaptation works, it’s easier to see a career setback as a pivot point, not a dead end.
Losing a role, missing a promotion, or getting stuck can sting, but it can also clarify what you want to build and how you want to work. Channel that energy into a small, focused business idea that fits your skills and gives you momentum again.
To start a business, you’ll typically choose a name, decide on a legal structure, register where required, and set up the basics to operate.
If the process feels overwhelming, an all-in-one business platform like zenbusiness.com can help you form an LLC, stay on top of compliance, create a website, or handle finances.
Next, we’ll look at four practical transition playbooks: moving, pivoting careers, parenting, and starting a business, so you can take the first concrete steps with more confidence.
Use 4 Transition Playbooks: Move, Pivot Careers, Parent, Start a Business
Big changes feel messy because there are more moving parts than your brain can hold at once. These four mini playbooks turn overwhelm into a short list of next actions you can start today.
Move with a 3-list moving checklist (Now / Soon / Later): Today, make one page with three columns: Now (48 hours), Soon (2 weeks), Later (after you land). Put “address changes, utilities, packing a first-night box, and transfer records” in Now so you’re not hunting for basics on day one. If you’re moving to a home office, consider hiring specialists for sensitive tech so you don’t lose days to damaged equipment and re-setup.
Pivot careers using a simple 30–10–3 plan: For the next 30 days, run “career experiments” instead of making a forever decision: 10 outreach messages to people in roles you’re curious about, and 3 small proof-of-skill projects you can show (a one-page case study, a mini portfolio, a process improvement at your current job). This builds momentum the same way the reinvention path does: tiny validated steps beat perfect planning. Keep a weekly scorecard (outreach sent, conversations booked, skills practiced) so the process is measurable, not emotional.
Negotiate your new role like a grown-up (and protect future-you): Before signing anything, ask for the job offer in writing and schedule a 20-minute review for pay, title, start date, and flexibility. The reality that contracts can sometimes be changed is your permission slip to request clarity, especially on non-salary items like remote days, training budget, or a later start date. If a clause is confusing, don’t sign until you know what you’re agreeing to; uncertainty becomes stress the moment life gets busy.
Parents with “minimum viable routines” and time blocks: Choose two anchor moments to stabilize the day (for example: a 15-minute morning reset and a 20-minute evening prep). Then time-block three categories for one week: care, work, and recovery, because recovery is a requirement, not a reward. If you’re new to parenting, lower the standard on everything that isn’t healthy or safe, and automate what you can (recurring grocery order, shared calendar, pre-packed diaper bag).
Start a business with an LLC-first action and a 7-day setup sprint: Day 1: write a one-sentence offer (who you help + what outcome + how). Days 2–3: validate with five conversations and one paid beta client or pre-order. Days 4–7: handle business formation steps, choose a name, file the LLC if it fits your situation, open a business bank account, and set a simple bookkeeping routine (one weekly money date). Keeping it “LLC-first” turns your idea into a real container so your reinvention stays organized and compliant.
When you can name your next two steps and put them on a calendar, fear gets quieter, and options get clearer.
Common Questions About Navigating Big Life Changes
If you’re still feeling wobbly, these answers can steady you.
Q: What do I do when my emotions swing wildly during a transition?A: Your reaction is normal; change loads your nervous system with uncertainty. A helpful goal is modifying emotional response rather than eliminating feelings. Try this now: name the emotion out loud, then do 6 slow exhales and take one tiny action that supports safety (water, food, shower, short walk).
Q: How can I make decisions when every option feels risky?A: Use a two-door test: “If I choose A, what problem am I accepting? If I choose B, what problem am I accepting?” Then pick the problem you are most willing to live with for 30 days, not forever.
Q: When should I ask for help instead of pushing through?A: Ask early, before you’re at capacity. Try this now: text one person a specific request with a time limit, like “Can you talk for 10 minutes tonight?”
Q: What if I’m stuck between two choices and keep looping?A: Make it an experiment: choose one option to test for a week and define one success signal. If you can’t choose, flip a coin and notice your immediate emotion; that reaction is data.
Q: How do I handle uncertainty without spiraling at night?A: Create a “worry container”: set a 10-minute worry window earlier in the day and write your fears plus one next step each. At bedtime, remind yourself that you already scheduled the worry. You don’t need perfect clarity, just a steady next move.
Choose One Next Step to Grow Stronger Through Change
Big changes can leave life feeling unsteady, one day hopeful, the next full of doubt and second-guessing. The way through isn’t controlling every outcome; it’s embracing uncertainty with a positive mindset and treating this season as a practice in empowerment through change. Over time, that approach builds long-term resilience, turning today’s stress into steadier self-trust and real personal growth. Change doesn’t have to break you; it can build you. Choose one small next step this week, one decision, one conversation, or one supportive habit, and follow through. That simple momentum is what turns transition into a more confident life.
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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is based on the idea that certain situations trigger false core beliefs that negatively impact our thoughts, emotions, behavior, and physical reactions. Once we learn how to identify what situations bring upon such destructive thoughts, we can practice developing new interpretations.
That will then change our pattern of reaction.
The therapy is widely used to help people with phobias, depression, anxieties, or addictions To show how it works.
Let’s look at Lily a teenage girl who hates going to school due to her fear of being judged and humiliated.
In her first session, the therapist tries to build trust and explains how CBT functions since the better Lily understands the process, the more likely it is that the therapy is effective.
The therapist also illustrates how our brain in specific situations follows a fixed path of reason, which gets stronger after years of having the same thought process.
Many of our destructive behaviors are based on false core beliefs, thoughts that objectively don’t make sense.
We acquired these false beliefs when we were too young to interpret others correctly Throughout the therapy.
Lily will try to unlearn these false beliefs and create new mental pathways that will replace the false beliefs she holds of herself with more realistic thoughts Once Lily understands the process.
The counselor begins to ask questions following the Socratic method, a form of argumentative conversation that stimulates critical thinking to draw out false ideas and underlying assumptions. Would you like to tell me why you are here today Start the therapist, Because I think I’m not normal Lily responds Therapist1.
You appear perfectly normal to me.
Can you be more specific Lily1? I think I’m afraid of people Therapist2.
So you are afraid of me: Lily2 No Therapist3.
Do you feel socially insecure Lily3? I’m not sure what you mean Therapist4 Tell me how you feel about school Lily4.
I’m scared of going because they think I’m stupid Throughout the interview.
The counselor takes notes of Lily’s, answers and identifies the signs of social anxiety based on a false core belief.
Lily believes she is stupid For homework.
Lily should practice introspection The goal is to find out which situations trigger her negative thoughts.
She gets a learning journal to keep a record of all triggers and other observations, such as self-talk or interpretations of particular events and people. During the following week.
Lily becomes more aware of her thoughts and the physical reactions they trigger By paying attention to her feelings.
She identifies a specific pattern that occurs every time during math class.
The moment her teacher begins to ask questions.
Her heart starts racing and her palms get sweaty.
She worries about having to answer the question about making a mistake about looking dumb in front of all the others In her second session Lily shares her observations and the therapist helps her realize that her cognitive behavioral patterns are false.
First, her math grades are great, so she should feel anything but stupid.
Second, she explains that there are always more interpretations tofthe same thing.
What to her may look like her stupid face to others.
She may just look unhappy about having to answer The reason she is afraid of what people think is a form of social anxiety, a completely irrational cognitive, behavioral response 5 7. As the sessions continue, the therapist suggests three practical strategies Through Journaling Lily records, her negative beliefs and reformulates them into positive ones.
She can replace them with Constructive Self-talk, which helps her to replace a critical voice with a positive one, she starts exposure exercises, which means Lilly deliberately puts herself in situations where she becomes the center of attention Along the way.
The two set goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-based SMART goals, give her control over how she progresses, thus helping her to gain confidence in herself Over time and with a lot of practice her brain builds new neural pathways that lead to different more Neutral reactions to the same old triggers And one day Lily may even enjoy the thrill of speaking in front of her class.
Her interpretation of the situation is more realistic and more aligned with those of the others.
CBT was initially developed in 1964 by Aaron Temkin Beck Beck, who hypothesized that people’s feelings are determined by the way they interpret situations rather than by the situations per se About depression.
He once said: If our thinking is bogged down by distorted symbolic meanings, illogical reasoning, and erroneous interpretations, we become in truth blind and deaf.
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As found on YouTubePythagorean Betting Systemꆛシ➫ The Pythagorean Betting System is my ultimate way to find out which team is undervalued and overvalued in all the major professional leagues, including NBA, MLB, NFL, and NHL. 8 months later, the user says: “The Pythagorean Betting System is … 18:07 The latest testimonial from Anders in Norway. He says: “The Pythagorean Betting System is amazing!… Every day you’re not inside, you’re losing money! God bless you Champ. It’s been an amazing ride!”
When we experience anxiety, our body goes into a fight or flight mode. Releasing stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. These hormones can affect the digestive system leading to symptoms like nausea, stomach pain or even vomiting. Anxiety-induced nausea is a real physiological response, so you’re not making it up during an anxiety episode. The sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system becomes overactive, impacting digestion and causing a pervasive sense of queasiness. During moments of anxiety, the Sy athetic Branch becomes overactive triggering a Cascade of psychological responses.
As found on YouTube ᶦˢ ʸᵒᵘʳ ᵍᵘᵃʳᵈᶦᵃⁿ ᵃⁿᵍᵉˡ ᵗʳʸᶦⁿᵍ ᵗᵒ ˢᵉⁿᵈ ʸᵒᵘ ᵃⁿ ᵘʳᵍᵉⁿᵗ ᵐᵉˢˢᵃᵍᵉ? ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ꜱᴇᴇᴋ ɢᴜɪᴅᴀɴᴄᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ɪɴꜱɪɢʜᴛꜱ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴀꜱᴛ, ᴘʀᴇꜱᴇɴᴛ, ᴀɴᴅ ꜰᴜᴛᴜʀᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜ qᴜᴇꜱᴛɪᴏɴꜱ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ʟᴏᴠᴇ, ʀᴇʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴꜱʜɪᴘꜱ, ᴏʀ ᴍᴏɴᴇʏ – ᴄᴏɴɴᴇᴄᴛ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴀɴɢᴇʟ ᴛᴏᴅᴀʏ https://aef5aa-t-ztics23v7-ljxbw4j.hop.clickbank.net/
The Overall Anxiety, Severity and Impairment Scale OASIS, is a 5-item self-report measure that can be used to assess symptoms of anxiety and associated functional impairments in primary care settings. It is psychometrically sound and valid in a German population.
However, caution should be taken when comparing groups that differ in age or gender due to potential method effects.
This article was authored by Thomas S, Hiller, Sabine, Hoffmann, Tobias Teismann, and others.
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As found on YouTube ᶦˢ ʸᵒᵘʳ ᵍᵘᵃʳᵈᶦᵃⁿ ᵃⁿᵍᵉˡ ᵗʳʸᶦⁿᵍ ᵗᵒ ˢᵉⁿᵈ ʸᵒᵘ ᵃⁿ ᵘʳᵍᵉⁿᵗ ᵐᵉˢˢᵃᵍᵉ? ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ꜱᴇᴇᴋ ɢᴜɪᴅᴀɴᴄᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ɪɴꜱɪɢʜᴛꜱ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴀꜱᴛ, ᴘʀᴇꜱᴇɴᴛ, ᴀɴᴅ ꜰᴜᴛᴜʀᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜ qᴜᴇꜱᴛɪᴏɴꜱ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ʟᴏᴠᴇ, ʀᴇʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴꜱʜɪᴘꜱ, ᴏʀ ᴍᴏɴᴇʏ – ᴄᴏɴɴᴇᴄᴛ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴀɴɢᴇʟ ᴛᴏᴅᴀʏ https://aef5aa-t-ztics23v7-ljxbw4j.hop.clickbank.net/
Cheerful upbeat, music, bell, chiming Amanda, Hey Psych2Goers, and welcome back to another video. If you’re new here, welcome to Psych2Go Confidence.
Some people are born with an innate streak of confidence.
Whilst it takes a little time for others to develop confidence as they develop from children into adults, there will be times when your confidence takes a knock right.
It’s common to feel like you wish.
Your confidence was better, While other things that are out of control may impact your confidence, such as other people.
It’s, important to know which things you are in control of and how you can prevent yourself from destroying your confidence.
So here are nine habits that are destroying your confidence Number one.
You care too much about what other people think.
How many times have you said to yourself Cartoon I don’t care what other people think about me?
Amanda, Honestly, the tally isn’t quite encouraging. Is it Cartoon laughing Cartoon No Amanda That’s? Okay? It’s common to care about what other people think, especially if we’re trying to impress them As human beings.
You want to be liked and respected by others.
However, when you value other people,’s, thoughts and opinions above your own, and change your behavior to reflect what you think others want to see.
You’re doing more harm than good for yourself Number.
Two negative thinking cartoons I’m, not good enough.
I can’t do this.
Amanda You’ve had one too many of those days.
Have. ‘t you Cartoon Uh, huh Amanda.
You become what you think, If you always think you’re, not good enough, then you’ll never be confident.
Do you have thoughts that you can never get that promotion, even though you are qualified That’s, negative thinking Indulging in pessimism creates a self-fulfilling prophecy Cartoon. Oh boy, Amanda Yeah, you’re gradually destroying your self-confidence with all of these thoughts. Reframing those negative thoughts to say I am good enough to get this, job and I need to show: my skills: can reinforce a more, positive mindset: It 39, s crucial, to focus: on what you can do instead of worrying about the outcomes that you can’t Control Number three social media living.
Do you compare your lifestyle with your friends on social media Or how many times have you thought that your social media life is better than your own life? The pretty pictures people paint on social media, as we know, are not always as they appear to be.
If you consistently find yourself comparing yourself to others living in your own version of reality, and only putting out what you want the world to see, then you may notice that this has an impact on your confidence in the real world.
Once you start to understand that this is not what everyday life is like, then you should start to feel more grounded.
Number four self-deprecating talk When you diminish what you do you’re taking shots at your self-confidence.
If every time you speak in a personal or professional setting – and you say that you’re – not that great – you’re diminishing your worth and value When you’re constantly communicating that you’re, not that great it’s bound to make.
You feel less than confident Writer C S, Lewis once said, Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but it’s.
Thinking of yourself less So remember that and try not to confuse humility with self-deprecation Number five.
The blame game is your favorite sport.
When you find yourself in a situation that you are not happy with such as a job that you hate, do you tend to find excuses and blame everybody else or everything else for what is happening? This destroys your self-esteem and you feel less confident about being able to manage your situation.
You’ll need to develop an exit plan for your self-esteem In his video.
How To Beast explains this idea of blaming acts as a defense mechanism, So, rather than pass the blame taking ownership of your situation should jumpstart your confidence fingers crossed Number six.
You set the bar low for yourself When you disclaim.
I’m not very good at this, so don’t have any expectations.
It immediately makes others question your ability Disqualifying yourself verbally reassures you that others won’t have high expectations from you and won’t be disappointed, But by setting yourself at this level, naturally, your confidence is going to be low, as is your sense of value.
So when you put confidence in it, it instills confidence in others about you as well Number.
Seven thinking that you don’t have anything to say or contribute to a discussion.
Why don’t you tend to get involved in conversations at work or social events? Is it because you don’t believe that you have anything meaningful to add, Maybe Amanda? Well, this, too is destroying your confidence, as you may feel like people will be bored with what you have to say, or that they’ll think that you’re, not smart Yeah or they’ll make fun of me Amanda.
This is a story that you’ve told yourself, and you’ve started to believe that it’s. True, It may be that the topic of conversation is not something that you’re particularly interested in or know a lot about, but it should not be allowed to cost you your confidence.
Okay, number, eight! You dismiss compliments Guilty as charged right.?Cartoon Mm hmm Amanda Yeah me too.
We often receive compliments by deflecting or shying away from accepting them, because we’re embarrassed or we don’t believe the comment By deflecting.
We’re not only selling ourselves short but challenging the judgment of the person complimenting us Cartoon Uh.
Oh Amanda, Accepting compliments.
Graciously doesn’t make you an egomaniac.
We can accept, compliments graciously and take them on board when developing our confidence And number nine ruminating.
Ever find yourself repeatedly going over what you didn’t, get right or situations you didn’t like An example of this may be that you continuously think about something.
You said during a presentation of your work. Colleagues Rumination is taking thinking to another dimension altogether.
Even though thinking is considered necessary for problem-solving, ruminating is focused on the problem and not on finding the solution.
In her article for Forbes, Jamie Kaluga wrote that When you ruminate on your poor decisions or setbacks, consistently, even the most confident people can struggle at times and it’s perfectly normal.
You are unique individuals with different skills, So use them to your advantage, Using positive affirmations every day, where possible can help to remind you of your strengths and what you want to develop.
Do any of these describe your experience, Or did any of these points describe you If you have any comments or feedback regarding this video? Please leave them in the comment box below We love hearing back from our viewers, and your feedback is so important for us when we’re creating content at Psych2Go.
If you found this video helpful be sure to hit the like button and share it with those out there diminishing their confidence due to their habits, Don’t forget to subscribe to Psych2Go and hit the notification bell for more new videos.
As always, thanks for watching See you next time,
As found on YouTube
ᶦˢ ʸᵒᵘʳ ᵍᵘᵃʳᵈᶦᵃⁿ ᵃⁿᵍᵉˡ ᵗʳʸᶦⁿᵍ ᵗᵒ ˢᵉⁿᵈ ʸᵒᵘ ᵃⁿ ᵘʳᵍᵉⁿᵗ ᵐᵉˢˢᵃᵍᵉ? ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ꜱᴇᴇᴋ ɢᴜɪᴅᴀɴᴄᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ɪɴꜱɪɢʜᴛꜱ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴀꜱᴛ, ᴘʀᴇꜱᴇɴᴛ, ᴀɴᴅ ꜰᴜᴛᴜʀᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜ qᴜᴇꜱᴛɪᴏɴꜱ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ʟᴏᴠᴇ, ʀᴇʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴꜱʜɪᴘꜱ, ᴏʀ ᴍᴏɴᴇʏ – ᴄᴏɴɴᴇᴄᴛ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴀɴɢᴇʟ ᴛᴏᴅᴀʏ https://aef5aa-t-ztics23v7-ljxbw4j.hop.clickbank.net/
This study found that depression and anxiety are common in rheumatoid arthritis, and RA patients, and their severity is associated with RA activity, particularly in females under the age of 40. This article was authored by Sousan Moudi, Behzad, Heidari, Behnaz, Yousefghahar, and others.
As found on YouTube ᶦˢ ʸᵒᵘʳ ᵍᵘᵃʳᵈᶦᵃⁿ ᵃⁿᵍᵉˡ ᵗʳʸᶦⁿᵍ ᵗᵒ ˢᵉⁿᵈ ʸᵒᵘ ᵃⁿ ᵘʳᵍᵉⁿᵗ ᵐᵉˢˢᵃᵍᵉ? ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ꜱᴇᴇᴋ ɢᴜɪᴅᴀɴᴄᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ɪɴꜱɪɢʜᴛꜱ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴀꜱᴛ, ᴘʀᴇꜱᴇɴᴛ, ᴀɴᴅ ꜰᴜᴛᴜʀᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜ qᴜᴇꜱᴛɪᴏɴꜱ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ʟᴏᴠᴇ, ʀᴇʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴꜱʜɪᴘꜱ, ᴏʀ ᴍᴏɴᴇʏ – ᴄᴏɴɴᴇᴄᴛ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴀɴɢᴇʟ ᴛᴏᴅᴀʏ https://aef5aa-t-ztics23v7-ljxbw4j.hop.clickbank.net/
The results of this study suggest that there has been an increase in the prevalence of depression and anxiety among Chinese social media users during the COVID-19 pandemic. Females are more likely to experience severe symptoms of both depression and anxiety compared to males.
Additionally, the severity of depressive symptoms decreased with age and increased with unemployment, while the severity of anxiety symptoms decreased with higher education and improved resilience, but increased with more stress feeling, less adapted and spending more time on COVID-19-related information.
These findings highlight the importance of providing adequate support and resources to those who may be at risk of developing mental health issues due to the pandemic.
This article was authored by Fengsu Hou, Fengying, Bi, Rong, Jiao, and others.
As found on YouTube ᶦˢ ʸᵒᵘʳ ᵍᵘᵃʳᵈᶦᵃⁿ ᵃⁿᵍᵉˡ ᵗʳʸᶦⁿᵍ ᵗᵒ ˢᵉⁿᵈ ʸᵒᵘ ᵃⁿ ᵘʳᵍᵉⁿᵗ ᵐᵉˢˢᵃᵍᵉ? ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ꜱᴇᴇᴋ ɢᴜɪᴅᴀɴᴄᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ɪɴꜱɪɢʜᴛꜱ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴀꜱᴛ, ᴘʀᴇꜱᴇɴᴛ, ᴀɴᴅ ꜰᴜᴛᴜʀᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜ qᴜᴇꜱᴛɪᴏɴꜱ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ʟᴏᴠᴇ, ʀᴇʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴꜱʜɪᴘꜱ, ᴏʀ ᴍᴏɴᴇʏ – ᴄᴏɴɴᴇᴄᴛ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴀɴɢᴇʟ ᴛᴏᴅᴀʏ https://aef5aa-t-ztics23v7-ljxbw4j.hop.clickbank.net/
According to the National Institute of
Mental Health, here in America, anxiety disorders, panic attacks, over-stress,
burnout, those types of things, anxiety disorders, affect roughly 40 million
Americans between the ages of 18 and 54. These are not stats, like, from 20 years
ago. These are like April 2016 – 40 million Americans. We have more food than we can
eat and, most of us have homes to live in and jobs. We’re not at war with each other
yet, hopefully. We live in relative security. We can go where we want, marry
who we want, eat what we want, live where we want, and work where we want. No
imminent threat, and yet 40 million Americans struggle with anxiety
disorders. I suppose we could use words like stress, worry, as well as anxious when we talk about the struggle that affects so many of us from time to time,
and to a greater or lesser degree.
It’s not just people from 18 to 54. People
younger than that and people older than that struggle with these
types of things, but that’s kind of the stat that I’m working with. In the world,
there are a lot of remedies offered to counter the problems of stress
anxiety, and worry. There’s medication,
vacations, therapy, support groups, all kinds of things, breathing exercises, yoga.
As Christians, however, we believe that even if these methods might be helpful,
and many of them are, the most satisfying and permanent solution to the problems
of worry and stress can only be found through faith, specifically through
faith in Christ. With this in mind, I’d like to review the story of Elijah and
how God helped him deal with his extreme case of stress
worry, and eventual burnout.
And that’s where we go for our lesson, First Kings
chapter 19, let’s begin reading verses 1 to 3whichit says, “Now Ahab told Jezebel all that
Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then
Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and even
more if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about
this time. And he,” meaning Elijah, “and he was afraid and arose and ran for his
life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.”
Now I don’t have time to read the entire story so I’m picking it up
right here, and maybe just paraphrase, give you a little bit of background.
Elijah, the prophet, lived in the ninth century before Christ. He was a prophet
who served God during the reign of several kings, not just one king, but many
kings, but one especially bad king, and his name was Ahab and his wife’s name
was Jezebel.
Now much of Elijah’s ministry involved the conflict between
himself and the royal couple over the introduction of pagan worship to Israel.
Jezebel was from Tyre and through her influence the worship of Baal Melqart,
who was the official nature God of Tyre, was being actively brought into the
kingdom. The word Baal or Baal, as it’s pronounced, means master or possessor or
husband. In pagan religions of the time, very piece of land had its master and
so each place or each town had its version of a master or a Baal deity.
That’s
why do you have Baal, the name of one city, Baal, the name of another city? Every
city, every town, every plot of land had this god. In response to this, Elijah
prayed for a drought to come over the land and it did not rain for three
years. And the point behind this is, that since Baal was a deity that was supposed
to control nature, this drought was a demonstration of this pagan religion’s
emptiness and lack of any power. Elijah, towards the royal couple and
the country, was saying, you people are starting to follow this God,
this is the God that’s in charge of nature. Let me show you who’s in charge
of nature.
And so he prayed to Jehovah, the God of Israel, the God of Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob, and prayed and said, no rain. And no rain came for three long
years. Of course, the drought also made the king and queen greater enemies of
Elijah. After three years, Elijah challenged all the prophets of Baal to
meet him at Mount Carmel to demonstrate who was greater, Jehovah or
Baal. After this meeting, Elijah taunted and ridiculed them and performed a great
miracle before the assembled people to show that the God he served was
the true God, and Baal worship was futile. After this great demonstration of
power, Elijah then ordered that the 450 priests of Baal be killed and they were
put to death by the people. The point here was that all of these priests had
been appointed by Jezebel and were supported financially by Jezebel, in her
attempt to bring this religion into Israel.
Now, if this were not enough, he
also offered another prayer asking God to send rain.
So after three years, the heavens opened up and the water poured forth. After
doing these things, realizing that he may be in danger, he escapes on foot to another town and that’s where we pick up the reading,
where she threatens him and says I swear to you, before the day is over,
you’re going to be as dead as those priests over there. So he takes off
running. I give you this story to underscore the idea that Elijah
experienced a physical emotional and spiritual rollercoaster for three years,
culminating in the great showdown at Mount Carmel. He is only a man. And if we
read between the lines, we realize that this man is close to burnout, extremely
anxious, extremely stressed, and ready to completely fall apart. Now Elijah
experienced things that were beyond what normal life requires of ordinary people
and that’s what was causing his – I mean, I, we, don’t have time to get
into all of it, but I mean, a certain amount of stress is good. You need a
certain amount of stress to get you up and going, but too much stress, when the
needle is in the red all the time, too much stress, that leads to burnout
And
too much stress sometimes is what happens when too many things are
happening at the same time. And so in Elijah’s life, if you look over the three
years, you see, first of all, miracles were done in his name. And you think, well,
that’s a good thing. But having a miracle done in your name
as you call out to God is a very exciting and stressful thing. There
was a war going on, that he experienced, a natural disaster. Yeah, he prayed that
there be no rain. Well, there was no rain for three years, which brought a drought
in the country, and terrible economic loss, and he was the cause of it, and the
people were blaming him. Threats of death forced travel, he had to run away, he
had to hide. Have you ever had to run away and hide for your life? I mean, think
about that for a second.
Imagine, people are looking for you, they
want to kill you. That’s a pretty stressful thing. And then, of course, the
rejection by society. He’s trying to serve God, he’s trying to do something,
but everybody, both sides hates him. The king and queen hate him, and the people hate him.
So people can manage some of these things, but when too many good
things or too many bad things happen too rapidly, we blow a fuse, and we burn out as protection. Our body is protecting us from destruction, as if our body is
saying, well, maybe you want to keep going at this pace, but I’m going to cause an
electrical short circuit here, just to stop everything, so that we don’t
completely ruin ourselves. That’s what was going on with Elijah
now, burnout, has symptoms. And we can recognize these burnout symptoms as we
look at Elijah and the dialogue that he has with the Lord. So we go back to
chapter 19 and we pick it up in verse 4, the first symptom, if you wish, or one of
the major symptoms of burnout is despair. In verse 4 he says, “But he went a
day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree;
and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, “It is enough; now O
Lord, take my life.” Even though he had witnessed a great victory, he had
done great miracles, he was in despair.
And the chief – the
signifying feeling about despair is there’s no hope. You have no hope. He had
no hope. Not because there was nothing to believe in, not because there was no
proof to support his faith, he had no hope because he couldn’t function
properly to see these things anymore. Another evidence of burnout is
self-depreciation. I’m no good, nobody loves me. Look at verse 4, and continue
in verse 4, right to the end he says, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take my
life, for I am not better than my fathers.” Self-depreciation. I’m no good, nobody
loves me. Why should I try? Burned-out people are hard on themselves,
no matter what they’ve done, it’s never good enough.
Burnout makes you feel like a failure and nothing can convince you otherwise.
Even if your wife or your husband or your friends tell you, well, no, but look
at all the good things that you’ve done, and you’ve accomplished this, and people
love you.
You just cannot be convinced that there’s anything good about your
life or your person. Those voices inside your head that tell you,
encourage you, or discourage you, usually are the loudest during the times
that you feel overstressed and over-worried. One of the symptoms is when that
voice is constantly negative in your mind, constantly telling you that you’re
not good, that you are not going to make it, you’re not worthy, then something else
is taking place there.
Another symptom is anger and resentment. As I said, it’s a
long story, so let’s just skip down to verse 10. In this dialogue, that he’s
having with God, in chapter 19 he says, “Then Elisha came there to a cave and lodged
there; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, “What are
you doing here, Elisha? And he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God
of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken your covenant, torn down your
altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword.
And I alone am left, and they seek
my life, to take it away.” Do you see the resentment there? Elija felt angry about –
he felt angry about how he felt. If you do your best, if you try your hardest, if you succeed, what should happen? Well,
you should feel good, not bad. When the only reward we get from all of our
efforts is fatigue and depression, we need to step back a little bit, because
we’re close to burnout. He’s, here, I mean, the greatest
victory, single-handedly defeated all these priests, stopped the invasion of
this false religion into the country and how does he
feel? He says I’m the only one left. I’ve tried these and look
what’s happened to me. In no other word’s says to God, I did what You wanted
me to do, and look where I am now.
What’s the point of serving You? What did I get
for all of my effort? Anger, resentment, and the,n of course, loneliness. Verse 14,
skip down to verse 14, he said, “Then he said, “I have been very zealous for the
Lord,” repeats this, he repeats it from before, he says, “I’ve been very zealous
for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant,
torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword.
And I alone am
left, and they seek my life to take it away.” Does that sound familiar? Well, he
just said that a little while before. The Lord is talking to him. Why are you here,
Elijah? What’s the problem, Elijah? He says, well, I did what You said, and
look where I am and I’m all by myself and I’m the only one that’s fighting. And
the Lord talks to him some more, talks to him some more, and what does Elijah do? He
repeats the same thing. He’s in shock yyouever notice people in shock? What happens
to them many times, if they’re at least awake, they kind of start repeating the
story.
Well, I was just standing there and I went to cross the street and then
cars just came out of nowhere and just brushed me back and I bounced against
the wall and I hurt my head and my arm is sore. And three minutes later,
four minutes later, someone else is saying, are you okay? Yeah, well, I just stepped out to go –
It’s like a broken record. They keep repeating the thing, they’re trying to
absorb it. He’s trying to absorb it. He can’t quite absorb everything. Why?
Because he’s saturated with stress and anger and resentment and, here, loneliness.
He repeated his complaint and with it his greatest worry, that he’d be left alone.
Burnout makes people feel that no one understands them, no one cares, and no one knows how they feel or why they
feel the way they do. It’s a lonely thing. Elijah lived nearly
3,000 years ago, yet his symptoms and feelings are so very familiar to us who
struggle today in 2017 with depression low self-esteem resentment, and alienation, in our modern pressure-cooker society.
Because people
have not changed. We’re the same as we have always been. There are some
common mistakes that people make when they suffer from too much stress or they’re
on the verge of burnout. Aside from the physical feelings of fatigue
and the emotional problems associated with burnout, this condition also pushes
us to make mistakes that we would not normally do if we were emotionally balanced and rested properly. Mistake number one, for example, we focus
on feelings, rather than facts. We focus on feelings rather than facts. Elijah
prayed that he might die. He looked inward and he saw the world through the
lens of his feelings, not through the facts of what had happened. I
feel like a failure, therefore I am a failure. This is called emotional
reasoning and it’s a mistake. I feel lost even though I’ve confessed Christ and
I’ve been baptized and I’m doing the best I can to be faithful, but I feel
guilty, I feel that I’m not worthy, therefore all of what he said must not
be true because it doesn’t match how I feel.
Well, brothers and sisters, we’re not
saved based on what we feel, we are saved based on what we believe and what we
do. People who are overstressed or burned out are easily drawn into
focusing and interpreting our lives through our feelings, rather than our
facts. Mistake number two, we begin comparing ourselves to other people.
Elijah cried that he was no better than who? Than his forefathers. We usually
compare our weaknesses to other people’s strengths. And we always come out – you
ever notice that? I like to play golf. Who do I compare
myself to? Well, I compare myself to a guy who plays twenty strokes better
than I do every time. Or well, you look at the pros on TV and you see it’s
one of the pros who makes this fantastic shot, makes it look easy, two
feet in front of the pin. And then when you try it and it doesn’t work, you – oh man,
what’s the matter with me? What’s the matter with me? I’m going to
give up this game.
Who are you comparing yourself to? The world champion.
Mistake number three, stressed out people motivate themselves with negatives
instead of positives. Elijah complained that he had been zealous for God, but the
people had rejected God and his preaching, in verse 10. Do you see it? We
blame ourselves, we punish ourselves with criticism and we label ourselves with
harsh judgments. It’s no wonder we feel bad. We become our worst critics. I always pray that god helps me not to be too critical, and to be
more gracious with other people. You think I can be critical of you, you ain’t
seen nothing till I start being critical of myself. Why? Because I know me. I know who
I am. I know how hard I tried. You know what I’m saying. So when I level
criticism at me, whoa it’s got a very pointy edge.
You can’t motivate yourself by
criticizing yourself. I’m not saying we should excuse or just let everything go
by that we do wrong. No, of course not. We need to hold ourselves accountable, but
we cannot motivate ourselves to be higher and better and more noble and more spiritual,
by continually criticizing ourselves, doesn’t work. Mistake number four, we
exaggerate the negatives. Elijah said I am the only one left.
Later on, the Lord tells him, yeah, you and 7,000 others. The attitude, or this attitude, degenerates
into self-pity and despair. So here’s what the cycle looks like, okay, this over-stress, over-anxious cycle. It begins we’re overburdened, we’re overstimulated,
we’re overworked, we’re overstressed, we’re over worried, too much, too
fast. And it doesn’t have to be bad things, it can be good things. We’ve just got
too much, too many plates spinning in the air. This leads to a weakened physical
and mental resistance, as well as a spiritual letdown.
You just don’t have
enough gas in the tank to take care of all the things that you’ve been
committed to or to take care of all the things that may have happened to you.
Then this condition produces a variety of symptoms, such as anger and depression
and low self-esteem and moodiness and all kinds of things, because these
attitudes drive us to make critical mistakes, such as emotional reasoning, and
false comparisons, negative self-judgments, and further alienation from
other people. And then these mistakes produce, what? Well, they produce more
stress. More stress on our system, which perpetuates the vicious cycle leading to
total breakdown. And what I’m saying is that sometimes
the body, again, does not claim any medical knowledge, but I’ve seen it in
myself – the over-stress, eventually the body takes over and says okay, buddy, you’re about to kill yourself, so we’re going to do something here, we’re
going to give you a lot of lower back pain or we’re going to give you some
migraines or you’re going to have an upset stomach or – we’re going
to do something to just knock you out, break the cycle, because if you keep on
spinning, you’re going to blow up.
So God, thankfully, has a remedy
for burnout, a prescription for burnout, because He is aware of the body’s
frailty, especially when it is under stress. In the same passage, we
see the remedy that God uses to renew a burned-out servant named Elijah. The
first thing that God prescribes is rest. God gave Elijah rest for his body. In verse 5, go back to verse 5, because I’ve
had to jump around in passage here. He says, “Elijah, laid down and slept
under a juniper tree; and behold an angel was touching him, and he said to
him, “Arise, eat.” Then he looked and behold, it was at his head a bread cake baked on
hot stones and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and laid down again. The angel
of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise, eat, because
the journey is too great for you.” So he arose and ate and drank, and went in the
strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of
God.” So the body will short-circuit if it does not receive
rest and nourishment.
A balance of work rest and leisure is the best
medicine for a burned-out system. People usually rest until they are
well enough to repeat the same mistakes that led to the
burnout originally. They’re working 64 hours, 70 hours a week, and then
they’ve got this over here, and then they’re taking care of a sick aunt, and
the church things that they’ve got to do, and then they’ve committed
themselves to something else, and all of a sudden, boom, they burn out.
And they can’t do it. They need a rest and
then they take a break, a vacation, or something, just to recharge the batteries,
and what do they do when that rest is over? Well, they go back to doing the same
things over again. No changes. They don’t realize that if they repeat the same
type of things, they’re going to end up in the same place. People usually, as they
say, rest until they’re well enough to repeat the same old mistakes. What’s
needed is an attitude that understands that rest and leisure are as important
as work, in developing a balanced and pleasing life to God.
And many of us,
unfortunately, feel guilty when we’re having fun. We feel guilty when we’re
having fun. As if, oh, that’s my – my guilty pleasure is, I go fishing.
Why should you feel guilty about that? And I was thinking the other day, I was
giving thanks, sometimes in my prayers, I say, today I’m
just going to give thanks. I’m not going to ask for anything.
I’m not going to complain about anything. I’m just going to find the things in my
life and just say thank you for them. And I realized, as I was making that prayer,
that almost, I mean, I couldn’t think of an exception, but there may be one out
there, almost everything that God has created is for our pleasure. I look at
the sky, the beautiful sky, even with the cloud formation, it gives me pleasure.
Pleasure for my eyes.
Look at that, it’s just amazing. And I smell – the grass gets
cut, and I smell the grass, and what does it – freshly mown grass, right, we
know, it gives me, what? It gives me pleasure.
I lay my head down on my pillow at night, the first few moments when you –
before you go to sleep, oh that feels so good, pleasure. I drink a cold glass of water, pleasure. I feel the hot Sun on my head, in the afternoon, pleasure. I mean, He didn’t have
to create us where almost every single experience that we have involves
pleasure of some kind. What kind of God do we have? We have a God that gives us
pleasure. Not illicit pleasure. Not sinful pleasure.
We don’t have to do things that
are illicit or disobedient to have pleasure, because He’s created
everything in this world to give us some kind of pleasure. We have to
understand that life has work in it, of course, and even that can be pleasurable,
but it also needs rest and it also needs leisure to be properly, to be
balanced. If you’re overstressed and close to burnout something is wrong. You have to figure out what the wrong
thing is and something has to change to find again the balance. And
that’s why I’m not throwing this at you as an accusation, I’m saying this is what
you need to be thinking about if that’s your situation: over-stress anxiety, and burnout. Something will have to change. It might be, that there needs to be
more leisure. Wouldn’t that be great? Or maybe there needs to be fewer commitments or maybe there need to be new commitments, in
different areas.
I don’t know, but something has to change. Number two in
His prescription – so we said rest, the next one is release.
God allowed Elijah to pour out his heart, his frustrations, his fear, and his anger
before Him. Again, I’ll read one more time verse nine, “Then he came there to a cave
and lodged there; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him,
“What are you doing here, Elijah?” I mean, do you think God didn’t know what he was
doing here what was he doing? He was giving Elijah a chance to express
himself. And he did. “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts;
where the sons of Israel have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars
killed your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left, and they seek my life,
to take it away.” He’s just, it’s just pouring out of him. Notice there’s no,
dear Lord, I humbly come before you, my God of hosts and I
appeal to you as your humble servant, Lord. There’s none of that.
It’s just Elijah, what are you doing here? Oh well, they hurt me, then I hurt them.
The problem with burnout is that it’s like a low-burning fire
inside that never gets extinguished.
It keeps burning and building and
destroying us from the inside. You can pray and cry and share with others and
enter your heart before God. The emotional energy created by the stress
needs to be released and released positively, not in a negative way. Some
people, get released, all right, but how do they do it? Well, they abuse drugs
or alcohol or other things like that. Or they do other self-harming things,
thinking that this will – hey I drive my car at 120 miles an hour,
that’s how I get some relief. Or I go bungee jumping off a bridge.
Yeah, that feels better. There are better safer ways and more constructive ways
to release the raw emotional energy created by over-stress. The third part of his
prescription: is rest, release, and refocusing. Refocusing. Elija was seeing only the
problem, but in the cave at Horeb, he sought, again, the version and the vision of
God that had originally sent him to prophesy, he hand heard the voice of the
Lord.
This time, in verse 11, “So he said, “Go forth,” God is saying, “Go forth and stand on
the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord was passing by! And a great and
strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before
the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake,
but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the
Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of gentle blowing. When
Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the
entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Sometimes it isn’t a
change of place or a change of people that we need, sometimes it’s a resetting
of our sights on God and His Word and His Son Jesus Christ and His Church, that
is truly needed.
In other words, sometimes we need to re-establish our spiritual
priorities because many times the overstressed anxieties are caused
because we have confused our priorities. We’ve taken God, who
should be up there, and we’ve put Him down here. Or we’ve taken our spouse, for
example, which should be our main priority, and we put them down here,
because, well, I got a lot of work to do and my career is demanding this and I play, whatever, I play soccer on Thursday and
Friday. But for some reason or another,
I’ve taken my spouse, who should be my priority, and I’ve put her down in
spot number four.
And I don’t realize that spot number four, her being in spot
number four, is causing a lot of stress and a lot of anxiety in my
marriage and my personal life and her life and the life of the children. So sometimes we need to refocus
and reorder. So: rest, release, refocus, recommitment. Recommitment. As far as
Elijah was concerned, one task was over, it had been a challenge, it had been a
burden, and after a time of rest and prayer and renewal, Elijah was given a new
ministry, a different service to perform for the Lord.
This time we go to verse 15.
The Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, and
when you have arrived, you shall anoint Hazael king of Aram; and Jehu the son of
Nimshi you shall anoint a king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-me hola you shall anoint as prophet in your place.” So God gives him another task.
There’s work to be done, you need to go. You need to go anoint a new
king. You need to find another assistant, a new prophet.
Many times the best way to
beat burnout is to be active in different ways, with different people,
pursuing different goals. Not always, but sometimes. If our focus is on God and His
purpose, He will be able to direct us into some service that will give us
fresh hope a renewed sense of purpose, and enthusiasm. He will
also supply us with health to do the work at hand. He noticed that Elijah, this
guy was burnt out, he was toast. He had given his all. He wasn’t the same
man as he was before, so what does He do? He gives him a younger man to work with
him, to help him, to mentor, to carry on the work. Sometimes part of the stress is, who’s going to continue the good
stuff that I’ve been doing? Who’s going to take care of my family? Who’s going to
take care of my ministry my job or the business that I’d built up?
I’ve spent so much time working on this and now I’m getting tired and I’m
getting old.
Who’s going to take over? Who’s going to bring it to fruition? Who
will love it enough that they won’t let it die? That they’ll continue it with the
same zeal that I had. These are real worries that people have. Elijah was
human like all of us here, who nearly burned out because of the pressures of
his service to the Lord; but God renewed him with rest for his
body, release for his soul, the refocusing for his spirit, and a recommitment for
his heart. Also, a reinforcement for his ministry, and that would be Elisha. God
not only cares for us, He knows exactly what we need, for what ails us, no matter
what the generation is that we live in. So the question begs, are you overanxious,
stressed, burned out? Do you recognize yourself, whether you’re a man or a woman,
whether you’re older or younger, whether you’re married or single? Do you
recognize yourself in Elijah? Is there a little bit of Elijah in you? Are his
symptoms, your symptoms? Have you given up on man’s solutions to fix the problems,
worldly ways to be renewed: denial, escapism, materialism, medication, or
hedonism, all the isms?
I encourage you to try God’s prescription for burnout.
Just a reminder: number one, find the proper balance between work and rest,
even if it means less money. It’s not all about money, brothers and sisters.
Number two, express your feelings to God honestly in prayer, and do it often and
do it sincerely. Number three, reestablish your priorities,
putting Christ and His kingdom first in your life. Once again, this will then
properly order all of your other priorities. And number four, begin seeking
new ways to serve the Lord through His church, to serve your family, to serve
your career. Sometimes working on different things with different people
helps us in our renewal process. So if this prescription means that you need to
be baptized, for example, or you need to be restored through prayer, then, of
course, we wait for you to come forward as we stand and as we sing the song of
invitation.
As found on YouTube
ᶦˢ ʸᵒᵘʳ ᵍᵘᵃʳᵈᶦᵃⁿ ᵃⁿᵍᵉˡ ᵗʳʸᶦⁿᵍ ᵗᵒ ˢᵉⁿᵈ ʸᵒᵘ ᵃⁿ ᵘʳᵍᵉⁿᵗ ᵐᵉˢˢᵃᵍᵉ? ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ꜱᴇᴇᴋ ɢᴜɪᴅᴀɴᴄᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ɪɴꜱɪɢʜᴛꜱ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴀꜱᴛ, ᴘʀᴇꜱᴇɴᴛ, ᴀɴᴅ ꜰᴜᴛᴜʀᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜ qᴜᴇꜱᴛɪᴏɴꜱ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ʟᴏᴠᴇ, ʀᴇʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴꜱʜɪᴘꜱ, ᴏʀ ᴍᴏɴᴇʏ – ᴄᴏɴɴᴇᴄᴛ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴀɴɢᴇʟ ᴛᴏᴅᴀʏ https://aef5aa-t-ztics23v7-ljxbw4j.hop.clickbank.net/
