CALM DOWN, RELAX

 

(c) Flicker.com, Eric WŸstenhagen

Ruminating over a recent video of a boy who told his mother to calm down when she wanted to discipline him gives me a glaring picture of what we need to do when we are in a tight corner.  Life is full of ups and downs and as humans, we often find ourselves in hard and uncontrollable situations, but our reactions to such situations matters most.

Situations of life are meant to challenge our stand and strength and not to break us.  Successful people in the world today have also passed through phases of difficulty and challenges in which they were mocked, intimidated, discouraged and disappointed but they never gave up.

At times, we need people to say ‘No’ to us so that we can get out of our comfort zone and learn how to be independent.  However, when turbulence comes, we feel very bad, lonely and dejected not knowing that there is always a way out because at the end point of every disappointment is the beginning of our accomplishment.  But the key we need is calmness.  Being calm doesn’t show that we are weak, it absolutely shows our inner strength and boldness.  No matter what you may be facing now, don’t allow your situation to define you.  Instead, calm down, take a deep breath and relax.  Calmness in hard and tight situations shows that you are not weak but you are fully dependent on God who is able to see you through and in so doing you will see yourself bouncing back.

Trials and challenges will surely come and these trying periods can weaken our whole being but panicking will not solve it because if we fail to calm down, the situation can take our precious health from us and this can jeopardize our ambition and life.

Calming down is a choice which we must strive to make.  No matter how provocative the situation may be, we should relax so that we will not be weighed down and knocked down by it.  However, many who refuse to calm down have been calmed down with health crisis or even death.

Constantly operating at high level of stress makes us susceptible to health issues which weakens our immune system.  Whenever we are not calm, our outburst of anger consumes huge amount of mental energy and our mode of thinking, making it difficult for us to be able to concentrate, focus or even enjoy life.  Even though when we are under stress, our anger is a means of expressing our emotion.  It is very crucial to deal with it in a better way because if we are not calm, our anger can take a toll on our health and relationship.  Moreover, calming down will make us to be focused, think clearly and also be able to express our hurts and frustration in a non-confrontational way.  It also allows us to state our needs and concerns clearly and directly without hurting or trying to have power over others.  So instead of focusing on what makes us to be furious, we should be try to resolve the issue and also remind ourselves that anger will not solve anything but can only worsen the situation.

These are the tips we can use to calm down:

1.  Relaxation: such as taking a deep breath.  By doing so, it will allow our nerves to relax and also calm our angry feelings.

2. Exercise: such as taking a walk, jogging, cycling, etc.  All these are means of calming our system down whenever we are upset.

3. Cognitive Restructuring: This is a way of replacing our inner thoughts with more rational ones.

 Based on what the whole world is experiencing now, we all need calmness in our spirit, soul and body so that we can fight and win this battle of pandemic together.

Thank you for reading.

©2020 Ògúnsolá Olúwasayò