Feel Free, Live Free!

Once a psychology professor walks around the table while teaching principles of stress management to an auditorium filled with students. He was holding a glass of water. As he raised a glass, everyone was expecting they’d ask the typical “glass half empty or glass half full” question. Instead of this, with a smile on his face, the professor asked, “How heavy is this glass of water I am holding?”

All the students shouted out answers ranging from a couple of pounds.

And she replied, “According to my perspective, the total weight of the glass doesn’t matter. It all depends on how long I can hold it on. If I hold it for a minute or two, it’s fair to feel light. If I go hold it for an hour more, It might make my arm ache. And if I go hold it for a day straight, my arm will cramp and feel like numb or paralyzed. As a result, it will force me to drop the glass of water. Eventually, the weight of the glass was the same, but the longer I go holding it, the heavier it feels.”

As the class head in agreement, he continued, “Your everyday stresses and worries in life are much alike this glass of water. Think about them for a while and nothing come about. Think about them again long and it may ache a little. Think about them almost for a day, and you will feel incapable of doing anything else until you drop.”

MORAL: Sometimes it is important to let go of our stresses and worries, no matter what happened all day. As early as you can put all your burdens down. Don’t carry them throughout the night and the day next with you. Feel free and live free. And remember to put down the glass!