Brilliant Stress Management

CHAPTER 3

Control your

environment

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;

The courage to change the things I can.

‘The Serenity Prayer’ by Reinhold Niebuhr

I

n Figure 1.4, we saw the importance of a focus on the things

we can control. For example, you can sometimes completely

avoid stressful situations: you can travel the congested section

of the M25, M42, M62 or your nearest equivalent between 7.30

and 9.00 a.m., and get caught in the inevitable delays caused by

hundreds of other people doing the same. Or you can get up a

little earlier, breeze through at 7.00 a.m., and get a coffee and

sandwich at a café near your destina ...