Our days have become stressful and exhausting, and we don’t know what to do about it. In fact, every day we put pressure on ourselves without even realizing it. That’s why, in this article, I’m sharing with you the 3 mistakes to avoid to say stop to pressure and be calmer.

1 – Wanting to be perfect

We learned to dread making mistakes. Indeed, in school, we were punished with bad grades when this happened. So, now that we’re adults, it’s the same. We expect ourselves to be perfect, and so we put pressure on ourselves.

Because wanting to be perfect means preventing ourselves from doing things the way we want to, and preventing ourselves from daring and taking risks.

So, to say stop to pressure and be calmer, it’s essential to allow ourselves not to know.

Yes, not putting pressure on ourselves means being able to say “I don’t know”, but to say anyway: “I don’t know, but I want to learn.”

In fact, not putting pressure on yourself means allowing yourself to learn, to be a beginner and therefore to make mistakes and errors.

That’s why I invite you to ask yourself: what am I stopping myself from doing, or forcing myself to do, because I want to be perfect?

2 – To say stop to pressure is to stop trying to do too much

Here again, we’ve learned to fill our diaries to the brim. It goes even further. In fact, society would have us believe that the number of activities that fill up our diaries is the measure of whether our life is worth living or not.

Yes, agendas with holes in them mean that people aren’t living life to the full.

In other words, we believe that if we’re not overwhelmed, it’s because we’re not important enough, alive enough even.

So we overdo it and put a lot of pressure on ourselves.

So, how do we stop the pressure? By realizing that it’s time to slow down.

Because our happiness isn’t found in a whole bunch of activities and the stress they generate, it’s found in peace of heart and mind.

That’s why I invite you to ask yourself: are there certain activities that I persist in doing that, in the end, stress me out a lot? And are there activities that would help me to be calmer than others? And, how can I do less of the things that stress me and make more room for the things that calm me?

3 – Wanting to control everything

We live in a world where we believe we can control everything. In fact, we feel responsible for everything, and especially for any unpleasant surprises that come our way.

In fact, we feel guilty because we believe we could have avoided them: by organizing better, planning better…

We should have known better! And that puts a lot of pressure on us.

So, to say stop to the pressure and be calmer, it’s time to accept that we can’t control everything, that life constantly brings us its share of unforeseen events.

And, rather than feeling guilty and imagining how it really should have gone, we can concentrate on what is happening and do our best.

Indeed, we put pressure on ourselves because we resist what’s happening. But things just happen.

That’s why I’d like to ask you to think back to the last time something unexpected happened to you. And if you’d accepted that you couldn’t control everything, how might you have reacted?

Find out more:

I invite you to read these 2 complementary articles:

Discover How to calm your stress? Live a more peaceful life
Discover Clear your head: 3 exercises to restore calm

In addition, I recommend this inspiring book on the subject:

Strength in Stillness: The Power of Transcendental Meditation by Bob Roth

If you’re curious about meditation and how to achieve greater inner calm and strength, “Strength in Stillness” is a terrific resource that can provide insight into the potential benefits of Transcendental Meditation and how it can lead to a more peaceful and balanced life.
Reading and practicing the practices described in the book has certainly improved my life.
This is an essential book for improving your life habits. It will give you a reference book for change and improvement in your daily life.

Thank you very much for reading this article.

If you liked it, let me know in the comments.

Take care of yourself.