Dumb Little Man | Tips for Life

Are you holding onto resentment that you just can't shake?

Sometimes it's on the surface; other times it's buried deep. But you can always feel it, gnawing away at you.

Resentment can stem from something another person said or did. Or from a life situation that's outside your control. But whatever the source, the resulting sense of unease can fester for months or even years.

And however hard you try to ignore or just let go of resentment, it stubbornly imprisons you in its grip, triggering all sorts of uncomfortable emotions at unexpected times.

Any number of things can spark resentful feelings, just a few examples being…

Does the recent news of the NSA and other government agencies tracking your information have you worried?  It should, and this guide will offer some tips on how to protect your privacy.

Several reports have come out recently that are rather terrifying.  We’ve heard that the National Security Agency, or NSA, has been snooping into data of U.S. citizens.  The IRS is supposedly looking to follow suit as well with the hopes of delving into the social media profiles, bank accounts, credit card transactions and more.

Modern life can be stressful but there are some key things you can stop doing that will remove stress from your life and give you back your sense of calm.

1. Stop being so hard on yourself. You will mess up sometimes. Learn from it, and let it go. You’re never going to be perfect and get everything right. Stop expecting yourself to. Instead, notice the things you are good at, that do go right, that don’t mess up. Notice your funny quirks, little talents and goofy features. Love them for their own sake. Notice all of the ways you’re pretty cool and stop sweating the other stuff you’re not yet good at.

2. Stop being so hard on the world. Unrealistic expectations are one of the root causes of unwanted stress and pressure. Life will not go smoothly so stop expecting it to. Accept life with all its glorious messiness. Kids will be noisy. Trains will be late and traffic lights will be on red at times. Accept it. You can’t control it so why get frustrated by it? Breathe and let it go.

Is everything taking forever to get done? Does your boss come up to you and ask, “What is taking so long with the project?” Or if you work for yourself, do your business goals never seem to get accomplished. Are you struggling to finish things?

I bet when you start out on a goal or project you have a lot of excitement. It might be the dream project you have always wanted. Your enthusiasm is probably overflowing and you are convinced you are going to rock whatever you have on your plate. After time passes though, do you slowly lose interest, forget why you started in the first, and finally in a state of just plain exhaustion quit the thing you had so much passion for in the first place?

It doesn’t have to be this way. You have probably fallen into the trap of one of the most common personal development, motivational sayings of recent history.

One side effect of the recent recession has been young adults moving back in with their parents, or not being able to move out at all after college because they can’t find a job.

Those who have successfully flown the coop can face a different problem—parents who want to move in with them. There can be numerous reasons for this. Maybe the folks have financial difficulties and lose their house, or one party dies, leaving the other unable to take care of the family home alone.

Some older people suffer from empty nest syndrome after all the kids grow up and move out, or become lonely and depressed from being alone.

For whatever reason, one or both of your parents may decide they want to move in with you. If this is the last thing you want, you’ll need to think ahead and have ways to counteract their plan with one of your own.  Before I get into the list I should note that my parents mean a lot to me.  These are just some creative ways that may come in handy if you find yourself having this discussion with your parents.

The repetitive buzzing rattled my brain and startled my body.

No – I don’t want to get out of bed! It’s too early, too cold and it’s too much effort to get up…

I can’t be arsed to go to boot-camp!

This is the conversation I had with myself this morning as my alarm went off at 6.15 a.m. Every Monday and Friday I have signed up to go to an exercise boot-camp on my local beach. I’ve been going for a few weeks and now it’s getting harder to get up on boot-camp mornings, simply because I know what is coming and it’s going to hurt!

I have been wrestling with my resistance and apathy, and for a moment I got stuck.


This stuckness can happen just as easily with my writing. My inspiration and creativity just dry up, when I focus on worrying about delivering to other people and trying to be perfect. Also if I spend too much time on it and get too physically sedate, because there is not enough variety or physical action to balance out having my head in my laptop.