A Letter From The Editor
You Say That Like It’s A Bad Thing
M
y guess is that the two most
common phases used in
American contemporary conversation
must be, “I’m exhausted,” and “I’m
soooo stressed out.” Last week, I saw
an adorable 8-year-old. I asked her,
“How are you?” Her answer: “I’ve
never been so stressed out in my
life.”
I asked her, “What gives? Are you
facing an IRS audit or going through
a nasty divorce?” Her response:
“What are you talking about?”
At the age of eight, I had a unique
way of handling the stress in my life.
I’d get on my Shetland pony and go
for a ride, I’d play with paper dolls
or build a fort in the backyard using
firewood.
What kind of society have we
carved out for ourselves where an
8-year-old feels “stressed out?”
Hearing people say these phrases
is exhausting, even when they’re
way past eight. It’s beginning to
stress me out. I worry about them and
want to help. I, personally, stay on an
even keel most of the time.
A few days ago someone told
me that I have a lot of stress in my
life. It wasn’t the first time I’d been
told that. I said, “No, I really don’t.”
She looked puzzled. I added, “Why?
Do I look stressed?” She answered,
“I’d be stressed if I did what you’re
doing.” This was coming from an
emergency room RN. “Yeah,” I said.
“I’d be stressed out if I had to try
to save lives in the ER every night.”
Apparently, we are both right where
we should be.
One of the best business quotes
I’ve gotten in an interview was from
a local entrepreneur, the late Larry
Barnett, in response to the ques-
tion, “To what do you attribute your
success?”
“I grew up poor, and early on I
learned to take the stress I felt and
turn it into positive energy.” Powerful
stuff, right?
How do you do that? I took his
words to heart and started working
on applying them to my life and I
found it’s really not hard. Over the
years I’ve repeated Mr. Barnett’s
words to my team members numer-
ous times. Usually they roll their eyes
and ignore me (you may be doing
just that as you read this).
But, I believe that Mr. Barnett was
right. Stress is only a bad thing if you
allow it to have a detrimental impact
on your life. You can turn almost
anything into a positive.
I’ve sort of programmed myself to
look forward to those butter