Recently, I saw a guy lose it at an airport check-in counter.
His eyes popped, his face was red, and he was waving his arms around.
His flight got rescheduled, and he was not having it.
The airline staff stayed calm, but you could tell they’d seen this a hundred times before.
When I used to get stressed like this, I told myself I’d never react like that again.
I told myself I needed to control my stress.
But this only made me more self-conscious and annoyed at little things.
This is precisely how most people approach stress:
They try to control it.
They reach for techniques like breathing drills, journaling, and mindfulness hacks.
They collect stress-reduction strategies like Pokémon cards, hoping one will finally work.
I tried the same laundry list of solutions.
The more overwhelmed I felt, the more I’d be compelled to fix this problem
Each new trick brought temporary relief. But stress always found its way back. The cycle never ended.
Finally, I saw this wasn’t getting me anywhere.
