I am a once again single man who spent the majority of my life preparing for life. Yes I know that sounds ridiculous, but it is the truth. I spent the first portion of my life attending public school, little league, piano lessons, chess club, entrepreneurs alley for young people, etc etc etc.

Once that was complete, I went on to join a fraternity at an Ivy League school. There I broadened my personal network while I earned my very prestigious degree.

Once that was over – I went on to take my masters degree, one simply wouldn’t be accomplished completely without a Masters Degree at the very least. A PhD more acceptable of course, but the Masters Degree was the bare minimum requirement for anyone who wished to amount to anything in the world.

Once that was finished I experienced a flood of employment offers from the most reputable firms in the country. Deciding which one to launch my career with was nerve wrecking enough – but then meeting their expectations would prove to be even more hazardous on the mind.

I then took a wife, the most cultured, well groomed, well rounded, picturesque spokes woman for global hospitality I could find – and I married her before I even really knew who she was. This proved to be the worst decision of all, overlooking that she was a person, not just an addition to my personal life’s resume.

Through literally 27 years of attempting to have everything perfect as prescribed by the blue blooded hierarchy in the family, I also forgot about my own welfare. I started losing my hair, my gums were bleeding, I couldn’t sleep well no matter what was going on, and I barely ate as my stomach started maintaining a continual state of nausea.

Finally, to make matters worse, something went on with my speech while I was in the middle of a presentation to very important clients. I couldn’t speak properly, the brain was not transmitting to the mouth properly all of a sudden, and everything I attempted to say came out like gibberish. My boss, and mentor, arranged a complete physical for me, and specified a neurological inspection. He was sure I had suffered a stroke or some other enormous life altering physical breakdown.

It was soon discovered, there wasn’t anything seriously wrong with me physically, well for now anyway – but I was suffering from extreme stress. I was going to end up very seriously ill, or worse, if I couldn’t do something to bring down my stress level. Truth be told, I didn’t even realize I was feeling that stressed, I just did what was always required of me – succeed, succeed, succeed.

It was at the advice of the doctors in emergency that I actively began seeking a life coach and a yoga/meditation instructor as well. The life coach who I managed to come in contact with proved to be a resource that I should have had since I was in little league. She taught me many different methods of stress relief, such as breathing techniques, writing exercises, resting with the aid of scented candles and the sounds of nature on a machine near my bed. Soaking in a tub (I hadn’t taken a bath since I was very young showers were all I ever had time and patience for) and clearing my mind of literally every thought except the warmth of the water, and the bubbles uplifting me.  The second time I tried this it proved so effective I actually fell asleep in the tub and woke up hours later in freezing cold water! (Could have drowned too now that I think about it).

Then I got past my ego and decided to take a yoga lesson, complete with meditation techniques. This proved to be good for the limbs, the heart, and the mind - it was all encompassing and definitely something will I continue to practice for the remainder of my life, I am surprised to say.

Bottom line – living is great if we live for today and not spend literally years stressing about what will become of us tomorrow. Stress kills – that is a proven scientific fact, and if the stats published aren’t proof enough for you – I am here to tell you that stress almost killed me …. Literally.