Today’s post is part 10 of a 10 part series, “10 Surrender Strategies”

Decompression, “what in the world am I thinking?” I know, I know…its not exactly a word that you hear or use very often! I promise there is a method to my madness! According to ole Mr. Webster: decompression is the release of pressure. Sounds simple enough BUT HOW DO YOU IMPLEMENT INTO YOUR LIFE?

For the past 9 days, we have been looking at various ways to increase the likelihood that you will surrender (and be stronger as a result.) Let’s start with the areas of life that cause you the most pressure. Can you picture the people, situations, decisions that cause the hairs on the back of your neck to rise? How might you release the pressure associated with such examples before they even occur? Remember, we’re talking strategy here so you must try eventually. Any ideas yet…this would be the moment when I am calling you out (or calling you to action.) Reading these words without taking action is meaningless. Knowledge without implementation leads to inactivity. After all, you could have spent these three minutes wasting your time with something else.

If you’re still with me, lets consider an association of decompression with this concept of surrender. What about perspective? It has always been my experience that stress tends to make mountains out of mole hills. I have found myself creating pressure in situations unwarranted just by how I perceive them. What I have been lately is to ask myself in the moment, “will this really matter one year from now?” Perspective helps me to decompress, which makes surrendering to stressful situations that much easier.

Now maybe your a person that thrives under pressure. Perhaps you increase the stakes any and every chance you get. I think this is fine as long as you realize that you are stealing focus in some other area of your life in directing attention toward these pressure-filled scenarios. Either way, decompression is necessary if you hope to make it through the day without landing yourself in an insane asylum!

I hope you have enjoyed this series and that is has challenged you to think deeper about surrender. Surrender is so hard and at times, completely undesirable. The more accustomed you become to each of these strategies, the easier it will be for to grab the things that matter and let go of those that don’t. You only have one life to live and you cannot control everything that happens to you every single day.