A professor was teaching a class on stress management. He raised a glass of water and asked the audience, "How heavy do you think this glass of water is?"
The students' answers ranged from 8oz to 20oz.
"It does not matter on the absolute weight. It depends on how long you hold it," the professor said.
"If I hold it for a minute, it is not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I will have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you will have to call an ambulance. In each case, it is the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."
He continued, "And that is the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we will not be able to carry on."
"As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we are refreshed, we can carry on with the burden."
We all carry mental weight—stress from our jobs, anxieties about the future, or the pressure to succeed. The absolute weight of these burdens doesn't matter; what matters is the duration.
You have to find moments to put the glass down. Do not carry the stress of the morning into the afternoon. Let it go, so you are strong enough to pick it up again tomorrow.