I’m continuing to read through Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff and chapter 19, entitled “Lower Your Tolerance to Stress” makes the observation that our society tends to look up to people who are under a great deal of stress; those who can handle a great deal of pressure. Dr. Carlson also makes the observation that our current level of stress will be exactly that of our tolerance to stress. He says, “You’ll notice that the people who say, ‘I can handle lots of stress’, will always be under a great deal of it!”
What we have to do to help eliminate stress from our lives is to lower the level of tolerance that we have for it. Typically we’re taught to raise our level of tolerance to stress, which in turn, adds to the stress that we experience. What we have to do is catch ourselves; start to notice our stress before it gets out of hand. Once it gets out of hand it’s too late and we can start to spiral out of control at that point. When we get to the point where our schedules are full to overflowing, that’s when we need to stop, relax and regroup. This way, our stress doesn’t gain the momentum it needs to have us become totally stressed out. If we adopt a “no tolerance” policy for stress and get in the habit of noticing it when it’s small, we defuse it and maintain control, instead of being in the downward spiral ready to crash and burn.