How heavy do you think is a glass of water? A stress management story

• by Roxana Nicoleta Vintila
• in Soup for the soul
• posted May 21, 2021

A psychiatrist teaches his students a class about stress management. He takes a glass of water and walks around the classroom in silence. Everyone is waiting for him to ask questions like, “Is this glass half full or half empty?”.

After a while, he stops, raises the glass, and asks: “How heavy do you think is this glass of water?”. Everyone is surprised, and the students start saying: “250ml”, “500ml”.

The psychiatrist looks at them and says: “The actual weight doesn’t matter! All that matters is the time you hold the glass up. A minute, no problem! An hour, you will feel minor pain in your arm. A day, your arm fills paralyzed. In each of these cases, the weight of the glass is the same. The only thing that changes is the time. The longer it takes, the heavier it gets.

Stress and worries are exactly like the glass of water.

If you do not take too much time thinking about them, your life will not be impacted and remains balanced. Thinking about them from time to time will start affecting your soul. But, when you think about them for a long time, these negative feelings will poison your thoughts. And, in the end, your mind is paralyzed in a stress loop.

Put the glass down each night!

It is extremely important to release the stress! So, each day you should find ways of eliminating stress from your life. You can start cooking, taking photos, doing sport, reading, meditating, or doing any other activity that fits your lifestyle. Just remember to put the glass down each night.

I wish you all a day, a week, and a life free of stress!