Dealing with Stress for Writers (and Everyone Else)
by Henry McLaughlin @RiverBendSagas Stress: a state of bodily or mental tension resulting from factors that tend to alter an existing equilibrium (Miriam-Webster�s Collegiate Dictionary, 11thEdition) If we�re breathing, we all feel stress. Something is always trying to disrupt our equilibrium. I remember a line from a movie in which someone asked a character how he handles stress. His reply: �I find the source of the stress and I break its kneecaps.� That sounded like a great solution to me until I discovered stress is more often internal than external. The stress comes from how I react to external factors in my life. And my reaction changes those external forces very little because I�m looking in the wrong direction. Here are some sources of stress. The belief that I have to be control otherwise things won�t happen. I don�t trust people to whom I delegate tasks to do things the way I think they need to be done. When I get into discussions that turn to arguments because the other...