When we're young, we have an amazing, positive outlook about how great life is going to be,

but somewhere along the line, we forget to dream and end up settling.

Join Up Dots features amazing people who refuse to give up and chose to go after their dreams.

This is your blueprint for greatness, so here's your host, live from the back of his garden in the UK, David

Ralph. Yeah, good morning to you, good morning to you and welcome to the Join Up Dot's podcast. I'm your

host, David Ralph. And we're going to answer some questions. We're going to answer some

listener emails that have come through today.

And the first one that we're going to look at is, does life really need to be stressful?

It's a big question. It's a big question, does life really need to be stressful? Because,

honestly, most of the stress we all feel, I think, comes down to how much control we think we've actually got in our lives.

The more control, the more that we know exactly what we're doing, the more that we are controlling our finances and our being pulled from pillar to post-isms, the less stress. And the less

control, the more stress. That's the way I think. Simple,

right? Now, I've had some emails from listeners who are struggling in different areas of their

life. And rather than just talk about the theory, I'm going to share their words and respond

directly because I think you'll hear yourself in a lot of these stories. Okay. And it's

important to think about life and think about am I in control of this situation? Literally, you know,

I always say to the wife, control what you can control and ignore the rest. And she said, oh, it's not that

easy. It's not that easy.

But thinking that as a starting point is, so let's give a round of applause for sending their emails in.

And the first one is from Claire from Reading in the United Kingdom. She says, hi, David. I don't

normally write into shows like this, but I honestly feel like I'm on the edge. Every day feels like I'm running from one fire to the next, work deadlines, looking after the kids, trying to keep the house in order, paying the bills, keeping my boss happy, and by the time I've done all of that, there's nothing left of me. I can't remember the last time I felt calm. Even when I do have a spare

hour, I can't relax because my brain is going a hundred miles an hour thinking about everything

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