Dear Mr Gilbert,

 Your site can be very draining on readers with the collection of everyday livelihood/living problems.

 Below is my latest article and hope your will spare a space to publish so as to benefit the stressful souls and less fortunate amongst us. 

 I like to share that we work to live and not live to work. 

 In your good hands  GOD bless.

 HOW TO LIVE STRESSLESSLY

Examinations failures, relationship breakups, loss of jobs, divorces, unsympathatic and unsupportive family members, friends and employers, depression … suicides! This is compressed life, not living. Are we too caught up in the rat race that we try too hard to achieve the material goals, which is normally beyond us, in compressed time? Is getting an educational paper an end all?

 No, not exactly. We can have a fulfilling life with stress adjusters.  

 1.       Release yourself from a ‘self-imposed’ stressful life

 Get back to basics; if you want to be the numero uno, you must be ready, prepared and relevantly conditioned. Do not try to climb Mt Everest, if Bukit Timah hill is a problem! If you cannot ace all subjects, try to get an *A for one… a score that few can match and all will admire.  Not having a job won’t kill you; it meant you have a narrower economic choices. Not having papers (tertiary education) does not decimate your potential; alot of self-made tycoons never have one!

 2.      Stop worrying and start living

 You worry for your spouse, kids, parents, job and others. Problems do not go away by worrying. All solutions lie with the problem. Recognized that most problems have solutions and some take alittle longer; and some problems simply fade away over time. Your worries will only add to more distress to all around you. Lighten your heart and life around you lights up others lives as well.

 3.      Do your best and leave the rest

 If you cannot afford a laptop for your kid, do not pawn your jeweleries to fulfill his dream. Your kid will be more motivated and moved if you worked doubly hard to buy him the laptop. If you cannot finish your work today after putting your best efforts in, there will always be a tomorrow. You are not indispensable; if you die on your job today, someone will still take over your job. Do not worry yourself to the grave.

 4.      Create space and make use of all available aids – emptiness is not void

 Even your are the best striker, you can never dribble the ball all the way to the opposing goalpost and shoot (it) in. You need the space and all around you to score. You cannot mint the best sword without the anvil and hammer and the fiery burner. 

5.      Balance the physical and mental demands

 If you are mentally tired, go for a physical recess; run, jog, hop, gym, shop…wear yourself out and have a good rest to achieve equilibrium. If your mind wonders, let it wonder. Many solutions and cutting edge ideas abound when the mind is free. 

 6.      Do what you always wanted to but have no time – find a purpose and you find life

 When you were busy working and in the midst of career development, you yearned to take a course, go for a long holiday, help the less fortunate, participate in disaster rescues… tasks seemingly beyond you. But, when you loss your job and is free, you freaked out and search furiously for a job! Take a break; pursue your dreams. What you subconsciously wished have arrived; go for it and for all you know, you will find a (new) purpose in life and lead a more fulfilling life where money is not everything. The definitive moments where many call it “The turning point in my life…”

 7.       Smile and lighten the heart

 You will find more companions and like-minded people when the heart is light and your smile is bright. Simply put, isn’t it true that you will join a cheerful group than another that mourns and groans at every little encounters? Everyone loves a winner. You need not tell the world that you are down but you will benefit by bathing in the company of winners whose energies manifest recoveries, discoveries and hopes. Smile and the world smiles with you. 

 8.      Does it matter what or how others think of you?

 No. Let us face it. If you failed disastrously, everyone but few, want to be with you. They avoid you like you are a leper and will not be thinking of you. Make the miracles in you work and turn tragedy and adversity into a success story. And the world will come running to you (again).   

 You are on the road to success 

 Give yourself a chance to succeed. If you are so terribly lost and so badly hurt, you are at the worst. What can be worse than a worst? NOTHING!  Like day and night, good and bad times come and go; enjoy your good times and manage the bad. Success beget successes. 

I may not have the best formulae but above are proven solution(s); like candies in the store, you can take one or all.

 
Best regards & God bless

KWEK Swee Heng