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Taking care of the business of you

Taking care of the business of you
Posted By: Ivy N McQuain MBA on April 20, 2012


I recently had a pretty bad health scare. I didn’t go to the doctor or receive any bad testing results but what I got was enough to scare the living daylights out of me. I was lying in my bed and as I turned I was struck with a pain in my chest. Let me be more specific in my heart. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t even yell for help. My heart literally felt like it was about to explode. I lowly whispered Jesus a few times and the pain started to go away. And I gasped for air.

To this day I don’t know what that pain was but I do know what caused it. STRESS … the silently and deadliest killer of all races in all nations. Stress I have been letting build up because I have been trying to be super woman to the ninth degree. I had been working 20 hour days – I work for myself but part of my client load includes me going to my client’s office to work on their website for hours at a time; raising my two sons, a preteen and teenager; and a church schedule that I won’t change cause it’s a part of my journey to a better life. Then add to that dealing with other people’s problems and having an inconsiderate house guest living with me for five months and you have STRESS.

So after my heart’s pain I realized some things in my life needed to change immediately. Not later but immediately before I left my two sons with a mother. I asked the ingrate to move out my house and they did without hesitation or an altercation. I cut back my work hours and I started to look over my life to see what else I could eliminate to reduce my stress levels (that is still under review).



Here’s the reason for this blog … we as a people, Black, African-Americans whatever and whomever have to stop … STOP carrying around the world on our shoulders, backs and wherever else we can fit it. We all have stress in our life but we also have the right to determine what level, if any, of stress we allow to impact us. I had to experience the worst pains of my life to realize it was time to unload. I thank God that I am here to write this blog but what if I had continued to let other people and things stress me out. I am a business owner, a mother, a Christian, a friend, a lot of things but none of that means I have to be stressed.

I encourage my fellow HBCU readers to stop and do the following to reduce stress in your life:

1. Go get a stress test. Your healthcare provider can help you determine how stressed you are by giving you a stress test. It’s worth it and beats getting taken to the ER from stress related illnesses.
2. Eliminate the bad in your life. Yes you can say no. Yes you can walk away. Yes you can leave. There is never a reason to put yourself through any bad situations just to make someone else happy. So stop it NOW!
3. Organize your life. If you work, go to school, have a family to look after, own a business, then you need to organize. It does no one justice to try to cram everything in a 24-hour period, especially when you have 365 days with repeat 24 hour days. So organize. Only produce what you can produce when you can produce it. If you need more time on a project, ask for it. If you need to take a break, take it. Just get organized.
The goal is to be here until God calls you home … not to meet Him before your time.
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