Some basic tips for better living in stressful times:

1. If you can't keep your own confidences, how do you expect others to trust you with theirs?

2. When you feel yourself getting overwhelmed, start taking things off your plate, so to speak. Immediately look at your current state of stress, and work to reduce or eliminate two or three stressors immediately. This might include meetings, events, or tasks.

3. If you want to be seen by others as a great conversation partner, talk less. Simply listen more, ask good questions, and you'll become more interesting than you ever thought possible.

4. Run towards, not away from, things that scare you or make you anxious. You'll find that most of these things aren't as scary close-up, and that you're tougher than you think you are.

5. Try not to take advantage of opportunities to feel sorry for yourself. Most of life's disappointments or bad breaks are temporary in duration, and if others have been able to withstand them, so to will you. Put your energy instead into healing and learning, and move forward, even if only by an inch at a time.

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"I'm not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did"

Yogi Berra

One of the joys of living in the Midwest is the turning of the seasons. With each new season comes a flood of joyous memories of seasons past and excited anticipation of events ahead. Each season allows for appreciation of the others, and each season allows us to reinvent ourselves anew.

How many of us make an intentional practice of reinventing ourselves on an seasonal basis? How about a monthly or weekly basis? I would guess very few, seeing as how we are creatures of habit, and we get into the rut of doing what is comfortable and familiar. Reinventing yourself is neither comfortable, nor familiar.

Each day presents us with the opportunity to pursue self-renewal and reinvention. We can do this via:

• looking for ways to feel more peace of mind on a daily basis
• seeking ways to get better constructive feedback from peers
• searching for ways to reduce labor intensity on daily tasks
• analyzing our approach to daily problem-solving
• thinking "leaner" and grouping tasks and chores better to save time
• dreaming bigger and pursuing forgotten goals that got lost in the shuffle
• asking better questions in every situation
• reading new books
• pursuing new friendships
• taking up new hobbies

There are a myriad of ways to reinvent yourself, and you can do it at whatever pace you'd like. Start today to do this. After all, the world is an ever-changing place, and the only way to thrive in this frenetic-paced world is stay ahead of the curve with your personal growth. It may not be comfortable, and it certainly isn't easy, but it is necessary.

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