Let’s start by taking a deep breath. Breath in and breath out! Have you ever been pulled in so many different directions that you don’t know which way is up? So many demands that you feel overwhelmed?
In this session, we will talk about everybody’s favorite subject. STRESS!
Stress has been termed the silent killer because we focus on everything else, but we don’t focus on stress, which is a precursor to many diseases and conditions, and not we all face threats. So we figure this is just how life is.
We’re always connected, always on our phones, connected at work.
We can’t plug out, always on.
And so many of us live our lives trying to escape. We live for the weekend, and what we’re going to do on the weekend, we live our lives for the evening. We live to get away. Just escape our reality, freedom from the daily grind. Sometimes it’s freedom from my family, freedom from relationships, responsibilities, whatever it is—That’s why escapism entertainment is so popular.
But many of us live a stressed-filled, stressed-out life, we are stressed, and I relate. I know at times I need to get away. I remember one time I took my wife away. She had just finished her master’s degree. We had two kids, and we were stressed. But I figured this woman had worked so hard I needed to take her away. So I scraped together whatever money we had and took her to Puerto Rico.
The Red Level
It was beautiful. We were so excited to get away. We get the shuttle from the airport to the resort. It was the first time we had been away by ourselves since we had children. We were in a very happy place. Now we arrive, and we go to check-in. We meet our concierge; we have our concierge who says, ” listen, for 200 extra bucks, you could get into the RED LEVEL.”
I think the red level sounds exclusive; we deserve this.
“Tell me more about this Red Level that you speak of.”
So she says, ”In red level, you get your private butler, you get your own Jacuzzi right on the beach, your butler will drive you around the resort and take care of your every need.”
And this is what got me “you will have your own private pool area with your private cabana,” and get this, “there are no kids allowed in the red level pool area, no kids!”
I’m like, take my money, sign me up!!
It was amazing. My wife relaxed. I got to watch her sleep peacefully. We got to reconnect. We got to dream talk about what we wanted for our future. We were excited that she passed a master’s degree and what was next. We rediscovered our friendship. We had a great time.
When we first got to the red-level pool area, I would feel bad because these kids would try to come in, and the pool attendant shooed them away.
I would see them looking over the red level fence, and the attendant would say, sorry, kids, you’ve got to get out of here. You’re not supposed to be in this area. And I felt terrible for the first couple of days.
But around the third day, I would see those same kids; I’d call the attendant over, I was like, “You know, these kids ain’t supposed to be here.
This is red level; I need this. This is about us. I started to feel like I could live like this.
Our Butler, Oscar, would run our baths at night. My English accent came out even more. Just as I was leaving, I’d give him instructions.
“Now, Oscar, The Brace’s are going out for the evening; when we get back, we’d like our jacuzzi running with foaming bubble bath, not too hot, not too cold. There’s a good chap.”
And I started to get used to this way of living. You can begin to think that that’s how life should be all of the time.
Stress happens
But what’s the problem? The problem is we had to come back. Back to life, back to reality. As soon as we arrived and kissed the kids. Demands were being placed on us. DADDY, CAN I. We came back now, and I was the butler.
My wife was the driver. We were both the cooks and the chefs. No more private pool, No more bubble bath. No More Oscar. Our kids were all up in our area.
Our kids were all up in our area.
Stress happens to all of us. But unfortunately, even the blessings can bring stress.
Have you ever heard the phrase “too blessed to be stressed?” You hear the old church ladies say, ” I’m too blessed to be stressed,” But let’s face it, even the blessings can bring stress. I have two beautiful daughters; they are a blessing to my life.
I love them. I couldn’t imagine life without them. But as cute as they are, they can stress my wife and me out like nothing else. So much so when we got away, we didn’t want any kids around.
Even the good things in life can be stressful, jobs, relationships. BUT, what would it be like if we didn’t have to escape or get away from our daily lives to live a life of peace and tranquility where our mind, our body, our spirit was always at peace despite the circumstances or even if we’re not at peace, we’re dealing with our stress as it comes healthily?
Look, there’s nothing wrong with getting away. There’s nothing wrong with celebrating on the weekends.
But we’ve got to live a life where our daily existence is one where we are in balance, and we are living a life of peace. One where we have the coping mechanisms so that we don’t always have to feel the need to escape. The ancient Jews have a word for this is called Shalom. And many times, we hear it as a greeting.
But Shalom has a much deeper meaning. It means to live a life where every single part of your life is in balance, is ordered, is aligned. So nothing is too extreme; nothing is being neglected. But your life is completely aligned and in balance. So what we all need is a little shalom in our lives.
We all need to figure out how to live this kind of lifestyle.
We need ordered, balanced living so that we can deal with life’s stresses as they come. Stress is not going away; how we deal with it, embrace it, the framework we put around it, and how we engage with the world and engage with ourselves is what needs to change. So we can all have a little bit more shalom in our day-to-day lives so that we can find our own internal spirit red level.
Shalom, my friends, shalom.
and then add to homescreen.