10/05/2026
One of the most common phrases we hear often is, “You need to manage your stress.”
Well, what does that actually mean?
Stress is all around us, everyday, all day.
For example, this cutie in the picture below is one of my biggest stressors right now. He is a 4.5 month old puppy. Even tho he is in a stressful time of his life being crazy, digging holes, not sleeping much, along with his chewing habit, I’m not going to get rid of him. I love him.
My husband, kids, my job, and many other things are stressful but I’m not getting rid of them. I love them.
So how do we “manage” the stress?
Think of managing stress as two buckets. One is the anxiety, increased heart rate, yucky stress and the other is the feel good, calming, relaxed, happy bucket.
We want these buckets to work together. We may be close to over flowing our chronic, intense stress bucket, so we need to find things to do that help us fill up the happy, calming bucket.
For example, taking Ringo and Benny for walks is very stressful and gets me upset because it is challenging to walk two big dogs but the result of that walk is well behaved dogs, therefore, it decreases my bad stress for the rest of the day.
I can get hugs and cuddles from them that make me feel good. It fills my calming bucket.
It’s a balancing act.
Breathe and find joy every day❤️
