UNITED STATES—Stress can be one of the most common factors that most of us encounter in life. I don’t know a person who doesn’t encounter stress on a daily basis. Rather you’re young, middle age or old, stress is a common denominator for all of us. There are some things in life that are not in our control and there are other things that we can control.

As human beings we need to be able to analyze and see those things that we can control and letting go of those things that we can’t. We can’t predict the weather, we can’t control outside factors that may unexpectedly strike us without notice. These are the things that we have to allow to just move past us without a second thought. However, there are things in our life that we can decrease the amount of stress that we place on ourselves.

For example, one of the biggest stressors for most people is work. Yep, it’s something we don’t want to do, but unfortunately it’s something we have to do. Most Americans workdays consists of anywhere between 8-12 hours at least five days a week. Yeah, we spent loads of hours a week, a month, a year at a place that only provides most of us with a monetary advantage.

In my opinion, Americans have to think of work as something that allows you to clear your mind. Go to work, do your job, socialize with colleagues, and do your work. That might be the most important thing so many people forget about work; you are paid to perform a service, so if you don’t do that service, you are at risk of being dropped.

It’s important to leave work at work and to not bring it home, unless you absolutely have to do it. Even if you have to bring your work home with you, it’s important to have a cut-off time. This same notion applies for those who work from home. You should have a consistent schedule and know when to stop. If you don’t it will only add to your stress level; no one can work 24 hours, even if you do, it only burns you out over a period of time.

Now moving away from the workplace, home can be a very stressful place. Not only do you have to deal with the stress of running a household, you have to deal with the people at your home. For those who have children, the stress level can reach a fever pitch.

The younger the child, the higher the stress level because infants and toddlers can be quite demanding.  Now imagine working a torturous 10 hour shift, having to come home, prepare dinner and monitor the actions of a toddler. Yeah, it can cause one to rip out their hair. Dinner can be a stressor for most people also. Why? We complicate the situation. We try to mix things up, pleasing one family member over the other and vice versa. Do what is best for you and forget the rest. Dinnertime should not be complicated.

What is the biggest stressor for most Americans? Its money! Money is bad because we do all sorts of things for it and we think of all the things we can do with it. For those of us without it, we’re constantly thinking of ways to get more of it. For those with it, they’re constantly thinking of ways to keep it growing. Money has a strange form of power. It might be the root of all stress now that I think of it. With money, work is less of a problem, dinner is less of a problem, and bills are less of a problem. Money eliminates it all.

So the overall question is how to we decrease stress? Find solitude in doing things that relax the mind, things that make you happy. For some it might be watching TV for a few hours, working on crafts, exercise, cooking, reading a book, writing, watching a movie, playing sports. We all have things that make us happy; the key to eliminating stress is discovering what those things are and going for it. Forget about everything else, we’ll always have problems in life, trying to control every single one will only produce more chaos. Stress is an agent of the human mind.