Hi there! March is ending, and with it, a month full of ups and downs for us. Illness, Emergencies, Family and Friends Catchups. It was a reminder that life goes on and you can either choose to ride the wave or clutch to an anchor and stay in place. Before we get into today’s topic…

Weekly Inventory Check:

Another Month, Another Review. We are but our systems and systems need to be maintained. Think of this as a monthly oil change for you. Look back to what has been done, what didn’t get done, why didn’t it get done. A simple refining process and you will have more clarity going into the next month.

Stress and You

As I mentioned last week, I had an emergency in the family and I flew back to Pakistan to visit my family. The Emergency did pass and life is slowly returning to normal, but the issue is, Normal isn’t Healthy. What does a Normal Day look like for my family in Pakistan? Wake up, have breakfast, shower and get ready, and go to work, where you sit for hours ordering people to do stuff because if you leave them be, then they wont do the work on time. On the way home, you are stuck in this terrible traffic where every second you hear 10 people blasting their horn. Come back home to find out the housekeepers also aren’t doing a good job and plates are broken or oil is spilled and now you need to get after them to make them clean everything up. Then you have dinner and a moments peace, to then pick up your phone and start scrolling for hours as you are too exhausted to do anything else. Rinse, and repeat.

Now what do you see in this typical day? This is a day that is not sustainable, it is a high octane, burning through gas kinda day. But this is the reality of running a small medium business in Pakistan. I am a firm believer that you are in control of a lot that you do, focus on that. The rest you cannot control anyways. Eating better food, exercising, swapping a book for the phone scrolling are simple ways you give your body and mind some headspace to process what is happening instead of going from one peak to another peak hoping you would not crash. But you will, stress is a biological function, it is there to alert you of danger and changes your body’s energy levels to fight or run. It moves blood away from the brain and stomach for example to the arms and legs. After the threat is gone, stress also goes away so your body can go back to normal. We are living in a society where you are always stressed, and constant stress cannot be good for you simply because of the fact that your bodily functions cannot operate properly if they don’t get the blood. This constant running after people, running after your business, economy in free fall, society a mess is just a mix of what you can and cannot control. Focus on what you can do, you stressing out would not change the economic situation of Pakistan, it would certainly not get you home faster when you are stuck in traffic. My friend said it in an interesting way about someone else but I will use it a bit differently: “You need a vacuum, so you can think, and here you don’t get that vacuum”. Find that vacuum.

What are your thoughts on stress?  Shoot me an email or comment below, would love to hear your thoughts! 

Want More?

The Effect of Stress on your Body

Maybe we are all stressed all the time.

Do these things if you feel stressed

Read of the Week

Age Proof Living is a book I have recommended before. It is a book that talks about health and wealth and how to structure your life so you live longer and happier. I would recommend reading their stress chapters to understand how bad stress actually is for you. It is Part III: Pressure Situations, and also includes Chapter 5 and Chapter 6.

Thoughts to Leave you With

I know it is easy to talk the talk and not be there on the ground. I don’t live in Pakistan, I might not face the harsh realities there on a daily basis. But my short trip made me realise that this is not right. It is not like there are not people who are living stress free. It is just most are not, and a lot has to do with the economic situation indeed. But I do think for my family and people in a similar financial situation, it might be possible to reduce the stress by changing up a few things.