Aren’t those two words to make you cringe!! It makes ME cringe, anyway. I have no love for cleaning. But isn’t spring a great time to “clean” other things in your life? Think of all the wonderful things that happen in Spring – the weather, the new plant life, lawns are green again, trees are budding – it’s as if everything is awakening to another year. And now that we’re past the dreaded April 15, there’s nothing but pure joy ahead of us. Now those of you who are not sharing in my opinion of the pure joy thing, let’s try to adjust your attitude a bit. Even if there is something going on in your life right now that is stressing you to the max, remember: you are the only one who can lessen that stress. Don’t wait for circumstances to change on their own or that you’ll just wake up tomorrow stress-free. YOU have to make the effort, take whatever steps necessary to destress yourself. We are all so busy we fail to take the time we need for ourselves, which I find pretty amusing in the narcissistic society we live in today. And those of you who are more on the side of “the glass is half empty” need to destress the most. Now I’m sure you’ve all read countless articles of how to destress, all the “how-to’s” and self-help advice out there (really, click on these links, they are good articles), but what I’m referring to is your attitude on life. I completely agree with the different ways to destress – yoga, meditation, a healthy lifestyle – they are definitely something easier to change than your attitude and will work wonders to improve your mental state. But I’m still talking about your attitude on life. While some of us are glass half-full types naturally, I really understand that there are the half-empty people out there who are just who they are. As I’ve lived more life (graceful way of saying aged), I’ve definitely become even more laid back about a lot of things which isn’t a bad thing. Because it’s all in my attitude. I’ve gone through some pretty stressful things in the past year, and I’d be lieing if I said I didn’t have bad days. EVERYONE does. But if you can keep a great attitude – which sometimes takes talking to yourself and telling yourself that tomorrow will, indeed, be better – those bad times will pass much quicker. Those of you who know me know that there have definitely been some difficult times in my life – those of you who don’t know me would be amazed. (Maybe I’ll finish that book I started some day.) But my whole purpose in this paragraph is to tell you, you CAN be a happier person.
Here are a few things to use as your mantra:
- At least I’m not living in Iraq.
- I have my health, a roof over my head, and plenty to eat.
- I have someone who loves me; I love someone.
- I have at least 1 good friend I can count on.
Now I say #1 tongue-in-cheek, because when I said that to someone recently, I was told – I wouldn’t live in Iraq. What I mean is what if you were born in Iraq and your country was in a civil war and you didn’t have enough food, electricity, sewer service and you didn’t know if you or anyone you knew would be alive by the end of the day. And you know what? I’ve heard interviews from people who are living in Iraq who way they are living in hell, but they are dealing with it. Wow.
No. 2 – I lumped all 3 in this one because you may have to modify that a bit, i.e., if you are in poor health, etc. My heart goes out to you if you are in poor health – that must be a trial in and of itself. But I have known people in poor health – even people who were dying – who have kept their sense of humor and a good attitude. And that is my hope – that if I am ever in a situation such as that, that I am able to keep my sense of humor.
No. 3 – Never underestimate the power of love. Family, friends, spouses, significant others – your dog, cat, bird! Shower love on whomever you can, whenever you can.
No. 4 – Friends can be extremely important in your life. Friends you can count on, that is. I’ve had plenty of friends that actually weren’t as good a friend as I thought. But I have friends that I know I can count on for anything! And what a great destresser it can be to talk to your friends. If you profess that you don’t have any friends – go out there and meet people and start a friendship. Friendships take time to develop and to nurture – be a good friend and you’ll get a good friend.
Find your mantra and use it. Improve your attitude on life. You will be a much happier person. Remember: every day you’re miserable is a day of your life you’ve just wasted.
The Personal Side
Last week I was a speaker at a women’s meeting. I wasn’t scheduled to be the speaker – the scheduled speaker had a family tragedy and couldn’t make it. So the day before I got a call from a member of the group and asked me to speak about virtual assistance. It’s not new to the net, but you’d really be surprised how many people have still not heard about it. I’m going about trying to change that.
I have to tell you – I had a blast! I talked briefly on women in leadership and all the crazy surveys, studies, etc., etc., on present-day women and why it’s taken so long for women to be in leadership rolls. I could have spoken for hours on the subject! And afterwards I met some really neat women who came up to me to ask me about VA’s and to tell me how much they enjoyed my little talk. Fun stuff. Getting up to speak in front of a room full of women I didn’t know would have been daunting to me a decade ago. Now it was just another thing to experience in life – my attitude was properly adjusted. If an opportunity comes up for you to do something a little outside of your comfort zone, why not consider doing it? Adjust your attitude and go for it!
The Business Side
I feel as if I’m repeating myself, but why don’t you have a VA yet? Don’t wait until you’re drowning! Hire one now to be able to call on when you need her. This goes along with destressing – we are all so very busy in our lives, why not get help? Whether it’s getting help with the little personal things you are having trouble keeping up with because you’re too busy running your business, or you need help with your business tasks: correspondence, email management, administrative tasks. Wouldn’t it be great to be confident in passing along some tasks to your VA to handle for you? Why should you be taking your time to do certain tasks that your VA could be doing? Be an entrepreneur and join the throngs of businesspeople who have found their very own VA to help keep their business running efficiently — and DESTRESS.
Don’t be a procrastinator – find one now!!
Great site to visit – article on eMediaWire about Virtual Assistants.
Nickey Hollenbach Personal Touch Concierge Service, LLC 484-919-0637 nickeyh@ptconciergeservice.com
Virtual Caffeine 