Can Stress Make You Shut the World Out?

Good Afternoon all, I just wanted to share two touching stories with you to kick off the new year.
As I was going through my usual day about a couple months ago, I ran into a very kind friend. She was so full of life and cared for everyone and everything around her. She was such an amazing human being. Have you ever met a person that you never knew before, but for some odd reason you feel this connection with them? As I got to know her better, I got to know of all the stress she deals with in her life. Looking at her, you would think that she had the most amazing life. As I continued to listen to her stories and heard all the awful things that had happened… All I could say was: "how are you so cheerful everyday with all this going on?" She told me in a very soft tone: “there is someone out there somewhere in a worst situation than mine. I have two legs that can walk the world, two arms that can embrace, two eyes that can see the beauty, two ears that can hear the music. I have seen people with that are not blessed with all this yet they still smile. How petty of me would it be to cry over things that can be eliminated from my life?" She was such a strong woman. She found the positive in all her negative and smiled.

A few weeks back, I was walking and saw a man walking down the street. He was lost in his own little world. He was having a very pleasant conversation with someone beside him that I could not see. I stood there and watched him pass right by me and he did not even acknowledge me. He walked the street but no one else acknowledged him either. I could not stop thinking about him. He was an older man with very dirty clothes on which led me to believe he was probably homeless. I spoke to a good friend of mine and she told me about him. She told me his story. He was a very well off man. Life just hit him really hard. He lost everything and all relationships around him turned sour. One thing after another, it all weighed him down. He lost interest in everything and everyone. He locked himself in his own little world.

We decide how we are going to be affected by stress or hurt that is given to us by others or situations around us. We can find positive in the negative or lose ourselves and live in a locked world. Stress is all around us, please find positive in all negative situations. Life is too short and every problem is temporary. I will end my thought with a quote…

“Its not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it.” ~Hans Selye 

“A positive attitude may not solve all our problems but that is the only option we have if we want to get out of problems.” ~ Subodh Gupta author