Okay. I said I’d talk about internal stress. I don’t know about you, but I used to automatically think of stress as external. I had too much to do in too short a time period and I was really stressed because of it.
Over time, I learned about internal stress and it’s the point where we need to start. Many of us women have conflicts going on inside and that creates incredible stress. One of the biggest is living in conflict with our values.
I work with a lot of women and I can safely say that about two-thirds have never stopped to do an evaluation of what they value. “It takes too much time.” “I have too much to do to spend time trying to figure those out.” “Will you tell me what my values are?”
Here’s a starter for you: Family, Children, Financial Security, Security, Spirituality, Education, Self-Development, Self-Improvement, Work, Professional Growth, Interdependence, Health etc.
Our Core Values are so important, they’re like anchors. We would not be who we are without them.
However, society and the media often has a different picture of what we should be and we ignore our own Core Values to “be with it” or keep up with everyone else.
Is that what you’ve done? Then much of the stress you’re feeling may be because you’re not following your internal compass and NOTHING causes more stress than that.
Here’s a good question to ask yourself. How would your behavior change if you prioritized your Core Values and started living with them as a Guide?