I have been having a hard time these past few years, what do you think can help a person who is overally stressed out?

rperry, I think that we are taught to expect no or little stress these days, and to look on stress as a bad thing, an evil thing and something that happens only to us.

There is stress and there is stress. We need a certain amount of stress to strengthen us and give us courage and backbone. We need a certain amount of stress to motivate us and make us try harder. We need a certain amount of stress to teach us compassion and empathy. Stress is actually a good thing, although it doesn't seem so at the time.

Stress is also not something that happens only to you or only to me. Stress happens to everyone. And those of us who are lucky enough to live in North America and Europe in 2010 live in a small island in that stress. Think of the stress of the young men who shipped out to fight in WWII and the families left behind. Think of the children who sleep in garbage dumps with the rats, and after having competed that day with the rats for a few bites to eat. Think of the children whose only education is in how to beg, and the children who live in countries where they never know if their next step will be a landmine that will blow their legs off.

Now, am I saying you are wrong to feel stressed, or that you don't or shouldn't feel stressed? Am I criticizing you for feeling stressed? Not in the least. I'm showing you the way out of the stress. Every morning that you wake up grateful that the stress you face is all the stress you face, your stress level will shrink. That small prayer of thanks in the morning makes your screaming stress level shrink to tiny, mouse-like squeaks that you can flick off with a flick of your finger and get on with your day. I could wake up every morning and let the stress of having a child who had cancer consume me. I could wake up every morning and let the stress of the debt load of her treatment consume me. I could worry every morning that my 10 year old van with 135,000 miles on it (our only car) will quit. It would be very easy to do. But each day I awake grateful that I still have my child. I'm grateful that we had treatments that kept her going. I wake grateful that except for a weak hand and leg, she is a normal and very smart little girl. I awake grateful that I have a warm house and a car that still runs. I thank God every time I hit that key and it starts, every time it makes it to the hospital 80 miles away and back. Gratitude beats stress every time.