This past week, my mother turned 95. She has taught me many things over the years, but one tidbit especially apropos right now is this:

Stressing about something makes it doubly hard. You have the uncomfortable feeling of stress on top of still having to do the onerous task.

“If you stress too much about something before it happens, you basically put yourself through it twice.”

Picture yourself sitting in the doctor’s office waiting for a blood test–one you have worried and panicked over. Before you know it, the test is over and the bandage has been placed over the injection site.

You ask yourself why you worked yourself up prior to the office visit so much that you just about needed a blood infusion to recover from the stress!

Imagine what you would have “room” for in your life if you didn’t expend that energy worrying about something before it takes place.

In implementing my mother’s sage advice, we can take some steps to avoid getting worked up before something stressful:

Practice breathing techniques to distract yourself during those moments of panic. Remind yourself how proud you were the last time you completed a similar task, and thinking about how glad you will be when this one is over.

Why go through it twice when you can go through it just once?

Happy birthday, Mom!