Inspirational Stories about Life – A Glass of Water (Short Story # 23)
Short Inspirational Stories are powerful reads. Such Stories are always a favorite area of self-inspirers. It helps them to identify themselves in the Story through projection. When you feel down in life, you can inspire yourself by reading these inspirational stories. Under the umbrella of inspiring stories series on this blog, today we are sharing with you Inspirational Story # 23 – “A Glass of Water”.
The story beautifully use the analogy to make people understand the concept of stress for a long time.
Short Inspirational and motivational stories about life – A Glass of Water (Short Story # 23)
Once upon a time in a famous American University, A professor of psychology walked around on a stage while teaching stress management principles to an auditorium filled with students. As she raised a glass of water, everyone expected they’d be asked the typical “Glass is half empty or the glass is half full?” question. Instead, to the surprise of everyone, the professor asked with a smile on her face, “How heavy is this glass of water I’m holding?”
Students shouted out answers ranging from eight ounces to a couple pounds.
She replied, “From my perspective, the absolute weight of this glass doesn’t matter. It all depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute or two, it’s fairly light. If I hold it for an hour straight, its weight might make my arm ache a little. And, if I hold it for a day straight, my arm will likely cramp up and feel completely numb and paralyzed, forcing me to drop the glass to the floor. In each case, the weight of the glass doesn’t change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it feels to me.”
Also Read : Posi-Positive Approach – Glass is always full
As the class shook their heads in agreement, she continued, “Your stresses, anxieties and worries in life are very much like this glass of water. Think about them for a short time and everything is fine. Think about them for a longer period of time and you will begin to feel uncomfortable. If you go for holding a little longer period than this and you begin to ache a little. Think about them all day long, and you will feel completely numb and paralyzed — incapable of doing anything or moving forward , else until you drop them.”
The students nodded their heads in the agreement what professor was trying to explain them.
The psychology professor smiled and asked, “What happens when you add more water? What if you fill the glass to the top? Surly the things will get more bitter. The trick is – just consider to put the damn glass down for a while. While it is down, it will help you to refocus and reconsider skills required to deal with the situations.”
Moral of the Short Inspirational Story
It’s important to remember to let go of your stresses, anxieties and worries. No matter what happens during the day, as early in the evening as you can, put all your burdens down. Don’t carry them through the night and into the next day with you. If you still feel the weight of yesterday’s stress, it’s a strong sign that it’s time to put the glass down.
When you allow stress to interfere with your day to day enjoyment or performance, you are just waiting for your arm to fall off. Rather than to be get paralyzed, take action. Mental toughness will surely help you; but you also need to learn the skills of when to hold it up and when to just put the damn thing down. Emotionally intelligent people sometimes put the glass down and figure out a better strategy.
Normally, the body returns to its resting state once the stress has passed, but prolonged stress exposes the cardiovascular system to higher levels of stress hormones that can take a toll over time. Chronic, lasting stress can increase a person’s risk for problems such as high blood pressure, heart attack, or stroke. So, put the stress glass down for a while; refocus, re-energize and review the situation and move forward. It’s not stress that kills you, it is your response to it.
Want to read More Inspirational Stories?
- The Black Balloon (Inspirational Story # 21)
- The Retiring Carpenter (Inspirational Story # 16)
- Self Appraisal (Inspirational Story # 8)
- The Starfish Story (Inspirational Story # 4)
- Is the Jar of your time Full ? (Inspirational Story # 3)
So that’s all from my side in this post. Over to you now, I and Invajy readers would love to hear your thoughts and learning from this inspirational story – A Glass of Water. Please feel free to share them in comments section.
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