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Knowledge is Power...to Un-stress

© Julie J. Murelle

What you know, can relieve stress. Stress can be caused by many factors and if you think about it, many times stress is caused by the fact that you do not know how to handle what has happened or what you are dealing with.

Recently I found myself in this situation. I was at the zoo with my children and my sister, and we were enjoying a lovely day. The sun was shining, the children were giggling and we were happy to be together. It was early in the season and there were ducks everywhere. (Ducks to the left of us and ducks to the right of us. Here a duck there a duck, everywhere a duck duck.) On one path there was a duck right in front of us and we thought, "Oh what a cute duck! Lets let the kids get a closer look." The petting zoo had not opened for the season, so we inocently stopped next to the duck and we took a picture and the kids ooooed and ahhhed. My infant son was eating crackers and I reached over and got a cracker to offer our new friend. As my hand made the trip from point A, (my son) to point B (the duck), the duck snapped forward, bit me and stole my cracker. Instantly I had duck stress. I was shocked and almost stated in horror, "You bit me!!" Had I known that you should not feed these wandering fiends, none of this would have happened. And now, my daughter has posttraumatic duck syndrome and believe you me, I will never look at a duck the same way again. Because of this knowledge I will never again let my children be as near to a duck as we were that day. Thusly I will never again experience the duck stress that can only come from being bitten by a duck.

Another time, I was driving home from another sister's house (I have six sisters) when my breaks went out in my car in the middle of rush hour traffic. True story! I had my two small children with me and from somewhere deep inside of me I remembered that I knew what to do in this situation. I believe that I experianced a high school driver's education flashback. I grabbed the emergency break and for some reason, keeping this on, gave me enough brake power to get home. Upon arriving at my house, I literally had to throw my car into park to avoid hitting my garage. Knowledge had saved me and I was able to think straight in a very stressful and dangerous situation.

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