{"id":7476,"date":"2015-09-21T07:00:38","date_gmt":"2015-09-21T11:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=7476"},"modified":"2015-09-07T07:08:37","modified_gmt":"2015-09-07T11:08:37","slug":"going-bananas-over-the-small-stuff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2015\/09\/going-bananas-over-the-small-stuff.html","title":{"rendered":"Going Bananas Over the Small Stuff"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.freedigitalphotos.net\/images\/agree-terms.php?id=100149510\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-7480  alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2015\/08\/stressed--199x300.jpg\" alt=\"stressed\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a>Every day, just living our lives, we face a number of opportunities to test our character.\u00a0Often, our true self comes out in the small things; the everyday trials, frustrations or simple irritations. It&#8217;s in those moment, we see ourselves for who we really are\u00a0and can decide if we need to make changes. Do we become easily offended, stressed, upset and sweat the small stuff? Do we go bananas over bananas? Let me explain!<\/p>\n<p>I go to the grocery store to buy bananas.<\/p>\n<p>I pay for them, drive home, put away my groceries only to find there are no bananas in my bags&#8211;seriously? the bag boy missed my bananas!<\/p>\n<p>Now I can respond to this several ways.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Being the calm, full of compassion, and understanding psychologist, I can say, &#8220;Oh the bagger forgot my bananas, well, mistakes happen, it&#8217;s ok.<\/li>\n<li>I could get really angry and say, &#8220;Man, you can&#8217;t depend on anyone to do anything right these days.<\/li>\n<li>I could swear to never go back to that store again. NO bananas, NO business!<\/li>\n<li>I could just swear and call the clerk all kinds of names.<\/li>\n<li>I could obsess on my lost bananas all day\u00a0and ruminate on the fact that now I have no bananas and no time to return to the store.<\/li>\n<li>Hey, I could just go bananas!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It&#8217;s a small\u00a0stress,\u00a0a small grievance, a source of irritation, but my response to it can move me forward in my day or get me emotionally stuck. Small stuff\u00a0can\u00a0add up to big problems if left unchecked. Anger from constant frustrations prompt more anger and does damage to the physical body and one&#8217;s spiritual health.<\/p>\n<p>Now banana frustration\u00a0is relatively minor and honestly I don&#8217;t see too many people in counseling over this. I don&#8217;t run Banana Loss support groups, But frustrations\u00a0happen everyday and we can become emotionally stuck\u00a0if our response arouses us and brings on more anger. The key here is to approach the small stuff\u00a0with grace and respond well. Our mental health depends on it!<\/p>\n<p>So for \u00a0every &#8220;banana&#8221; in your life, remember,\u00a0it&#8217;s only a banana and not worth the upset it may cause.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every day, just living our lives, we face a number of opportunities to test our character.\u00a0Often, our true self comes out in the small things; the everyday trials, frustrations or simple irritations. It&#8217;s in those moment, we see ourselves for who we really are\u00a0and can decide if we need to make changes. Do we become&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[925],"tags":[75,3375,3377,3378,3376,1984,2497],"class_list":["post-7476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mintle-mentions","tag-anger","tag-anger-management","tag-frustrations","tag-small-stuff","tag-small-things","tag-stressed","tag-upset"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Going Bananas Over the Small Stuff<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2015\/09\/going-bananas-over-the-small-stuff.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Going Bananas Over the Small Stuff\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Every day, just living our lives, we face a number of opportunities to test our character.\u00a0Often, our true self comes out in the small things; the everyday trials, frustrations or simple irritations. It&#8217;s in those moment, we see ourselves for who we really are\u00a0and can decide if we need to make changes. Do we become&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2015\/09\/going-bananas-over-the-small-stuff.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Doing Life Together\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-09-21T11:00:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-09-07T11:08:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2015\/08\/stressed--199x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda Mintle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@drlindamintle\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Going Bananas Over the Small Stuff","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2015\/09\/going-bananas-over-the-small-stuff.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Going Bananas Over the Small Stuff","og_description":"Every day, just living our lives, we face a number of opportunities to test our character.\u00a0Often, our true self comes out in the small things; the everyday trials, frustrations or simple irritations. It&#8217;s in those moment, we see ourselves for who we really are\u00a0and can decide if we need to make changes. 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Her media experience includes seven years as the resident expert for ABC Family\u2019s Living the Life television show and regular appearances on network television and radio. It is often said that being with Dr. Linda is like having coffee with a friend. She makes the complicated issues of relationships and mental health easy to understand and applicable to everyday living. The ease she has with people, coupled with her clinical training and experience makes her a sought-after speaker on college campuses, conferences and special events. Whether she is doing a TV skit with Tim Conway or discussing teen violence with Queen Latifa, Dr. Linda will entertain, educate and integrate faith and mental health in everyday living. 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