Alleviate Stress Without Pills!

We all have it; we live with it daily: stress. As America's #1 health problem, surveys, reports and studies have been done concerning this epidemic. Meditation, massages and reading are some of the many ways for you to alleviate stress levels. Doctors hand out pills; insurance rates go up; you pay to learn meditation, to talk to a therapist or for a massage therapist to give you a massage. Day after day, week after week . . . this is a never-ending cycle. The fact is you need to, and can, control your stress simply and cost effectively.

Rest is what we do to let stress subside. Doing fun things that we enjoy in our leisure time compensates us for the unpleasant stress we experience at work, bringing some balance back into life. This is particularly important if we routinely experience unpleasant levels of stress. (Permission from, Mind Tools material is published by Mind Tools Ltd of Signal House, Station Road, Burgess Hill, West Sussex, RH15 8DY, United Kingdom)

So lets get this straight, you have stress. You want to get rid of stress. To rid yourself of stress you must rest! OK that is simple enough. Now how does this relate to you and outdoor furniture? Remember when you were much younger, before life's stressors attached themselves to you? Riding a bike, going fishing, swimming, playing with friends? Having a seat next to Grandpa and Grandma, listening to their stories? How relaxed they looked, how fascinating the experience was?

I have fond memories of summers gone by of my Grandparent's property on a small little lake in northern Michigan, all it had was a boat house, a dock, a fire pit, and of course the picnic table, and a few lounge chairs. The chairs weren't fancy, really quite simple, the old style fold up chairs, and then there was Grandma's favorite outdoor patio wood chair. I didn't know the name of the style then, but I knew it was hers, if she was around no one sat in it, except her. That chair now belongs to my Uncle Richard, I know he has had to work on it, some regluing, some added screws, a new varnish job. But it does bring back those old memories still to this day. I go visit my uncle, to relieve stress, to visit those good old days and memories of simpler times. We all would love to go back in time. I know you do, or want to, don't you...

Whether it is a chair, a swing, lounger or any kind of outdoor furniture, they do allow you to relax, to enjoy life, to feel good again. Read a book, sit and bask in the warmth of the sun, a cool drink at your side, the sound of the wind, hearing natures sounds or just a good old fashioned nap will do what you need, rest and relieve yourself of stress. Now that you are feeling a little better, time for a new wake up call!

Here is a typical situation, each fall you have to put the furniture away into storage for the bad weather of winter. If you live in an area that doesn't have snow, you don't have to but you do cover it for all the rain and cold. Every spring you pull it out again, clean it, maybe paint or varnish it, reweb the webbing, tighten the screws, fix it up for the summer again. Every 2-10 years you have to replace it, because of age. Plastic furniture gets brittle, metal gets rusty, oak and cedar does rot out eventually, aluminum gets wore out, bent or worse...breaks. This adds stress to your life, even if it is just for a short time. True, summer time does allow most of that stress to disappear. Now then the cost of replacement, repairs, your time getting it ready, and the extra space used for storage does add up! For example a good cedar adirondack chair costs close to $300 and lasts for about 4 years, if you don't do anything at all except use it, about $77 dollars a year plus upkeep, varnish, your time, etc. A good oak chair will cost a little more, around $350 and lasts about 6 years. Let us say we treat it just the same as the cedar chair, now you have about $60 a year plus varnish, paint, upkeep and so on. Hmmm sounds a bit costly to me. Still sounds like stress to me.

OK time to really get rid of stress, outdoor furniture made from teak wood, yep that really expensive stuff. That same style chair, the adirondack, in teak it costs around $660! Wow that is expensive! Oh my I'm having a heart attack...oh nope just a bad attempt at humor. Seriously, yes teak is expensive, but here is something for you to think about, ready? Teak lasts 75 years, leave it outside, don't even cover it, don't varnish it, don't do anything but clean it now and then, and enjoy! This means more room in that storage shed for other stuff, you don't have to pack it away, or pull it out any more! Just wash it down now and then. Less stress...hmmm...virtually no work, more time to relax, to enjoy life....OK wait a minute you might be asking about now, hey he told me about how much that other stuff cost me a year and he hasn't said a thing about this teak stuff and how expensive it is...OK, OK one adirondack chair made from teak, less then $9.00 a year and no work!

Less stress means you can live longer, less heart problems, less to worry about diabetes, less headaches, less muscle aches. See, any outdoor furniture that you use will allow you to release stress, that is a given. Teak outdoor furniture will relieve more stress, easier for you.

Is this a blatant article about my products? Yes it is, but I want you to think about releasing some of that stress you are feeling. Read, walk, relax, take up a hobby, stop and smell some roses, no rushing around, no pushing yourself to the limit. Just sit down, relax and enjoy your life!

I want to personally thank you for reading this. Hopefully you will get a bit of a laugh and something new to think about.

Sincerely,
Bruce Gokey
Co-Owner of VanBar's Outdoor Patio Furniture

RELATED ARTICLES

Stress Management: 12 Stress Busters for Speedy Stress Reduction
Are You Too Stressed?

Self Indulgence: It Isn?t Just About Chocolate
It's no secret that we women, by virtue of our genetic make-up I suppose, seem to feel it is necessary to be superwomen-simultaneously balancing the demands of managing a home, caring for children and aging parents, and usually working in a demanding profession. This syndrome, which was first labeled in the 1980s, continues 20-some years later despite zillions of articles and talk shows discussing it.

Stress Management and Mastery: Breakdown or Breakthrough?
Q: "My career, though very very stressful, is one that I thoroughly enjoy and do not want to change. Because I'm under so much stress, my counselor has recommended that I eliminate all stress from my life. This doesn't seem to make sense to me, especially since I like what I do so much. Should I quit my job, or is there something else I can do?"

Stress Management and Mastery: 3 Powerful Tools to Beat Stress
Q: We recently had someone come to our company to talk about stress management. All he did was talk about the physical results of stress and tell us we need to not be so stressed and to relax. It really wasn't very helpful, and I was wondering if you could offer some tips on how to handle stress.

Stress Management and Mastery: Shake It Off and Step Up
The moment I read the story I'm about to share with you, I knew it would make a good article. It has one of the best approaches to managing stress, change and, for that matter, life and its living that I have ever read. Give it a read, and then we'll put some hands and feet on it to make it immediately useful.

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About How to Get a Life, But Didnt Know Whom to Ask
Question 1

Stress- What Is It?
Whenever we think of 'stress', negative thoughts come into our minds. Most of us believe that stress is similar to worries, tensions, failures, sadness, pressures, and what not. Basically negative things. Dictionary meanings of stress are mental pressure, physical pressure, illness or an extra force on a word or syllable. These meanings also signify the negative attributes of stress whether directly or indirectly.

Relieving Stress with Exercise... and Losing Body Fat in the Process!
Feeling stressed out lately? Don't worry, there is a simple and incredibly effective solution -- one that will help you lose weight in more ways than you might think!

Stress Management Shouldnt Create More Stress. 10 Ways To Reduce Unreasonable Stress and Boost Perf
We all know that stress levels in the workplace are reaching unreasonable levels. And most sensible human beings will agree that we have to take action to fix this problem.

Dealing with Workplace Stress
One of the hardest forms of stress to avoid is workplace stress. After all, you need to go to work and there are plenty of things to worry about once you get there. However, that does not mean that workplace stress is unavoidable. Just like other kinds of stress, there are ways to manage workplace stress and there are ways to avoid it. Maybe you cannot avoid it entirely, but that is no reason not to try.

Five Easy Ways To Bring Family Time Into Your Day; Balancing Work And Family Stresses
The pace of life seems to quicken every year. More and more time is spent rushing from job to after school activities or evening meetings. It's easy to get over whelmed and to loose a sense of family and relaxation in our homes. Here are a few ideas to help strengthen your family and to keep some of life's pressures and stresses out of the home.

Stress Management: Are You a Diamond or a Lump of Coal?
"Do you want to be a lump of coal or do you want to be a diamond?" That's the first question I ask to begin my stress management seminar called "A Diamond is Nothing More Than a Lump of Coal That Handled Stress Very Well."

Are You Worried? 4 Steps to Peace of Mind
A friend has this quotation on his office wall: "I know worry works because nothing I worry about ever happens."

Managing Your Persistent Fears And Anxieties
Everybody deals with fear and anxiety, however some people have a hard time in managing it. As a result, here is a brief list of techniques that a person can use to help manage their most persistent fears and anxieties.

Dealing With Stress in Our Overworked Lives
As small business owners, we often take on more than we can handle. Wearing all the hats running our businesses, as well as the other commitments we have (i.e. volunteer work, family, etc.), can sometimes leave us feeling overworked, frustrated, and stressed out.

Assess Your Stress Using Haris Stress Inventory
This is a tool to measure the amount of stress you experience in your daily life. 66 statements are included. Read slowly and carefully, state how far it is true in your case. You may please choose any one of the following five options to each item.

Reduce Stress To Maximize Efficiency
The right amount of stress can be good for you, such as when an impending deadline pushes you to work faster. Too much stress, however, becomes conterproductive because you start to make mistakes, become confused and muddled, or lose concentration.

How To Reduce Stress and Ease Worries in Just 3 Minutes
Meditation, relaxation and visualisation are the standard recommendations for reducing stress, and they are all beneficial and useful to us in many ways, however, they are not so easy to put into use when stress strikes with it's disruptive companions frustration, overwhelm, confusion, anxiety etc in full attendance.

Ease Your Stress ? Change Your Life!
Feeling stressed? Who isn't!! In today's society, feeling "stressed out," overwhelmed and exhausted is the norm. However, moderate day-to-day stress takes its toll on our minds and bodies. Our constant doing, over-working, running errands, rushing here and there, and care-taking can lead to anxiety, depression, sleep disorders/insomnia, high blood pressure and diabetes.

Worry: Is It Worthwhile Work or a Waste of Time?
As tools for change are discussed, one tool - that you might not have thought of - attains a unique status. That tool is WORRYING. Yes, worrying. Most of us wish we worried less. But worrying might be a good thing, not necessarily bad. It's a brain mechanism that weighs alternatives. Even though by definition worry is one of the processes that weighs possible outcomes and consequences (usually with emphasis on the negative), nevertheless it's a decision making tool.

home | site map | www.1001topwords.com