How heavy is this glass of water?

My uncle in Kansas (Hey Uncle Dave! if you're reading this) regularly forwards emails to me and the rest of the family.  Some are funny, some are amazing, some aren't worth the time it takes to delete them, but still others are really inspiring.  I thought I'd share one here, because the wisdom in these words can't be oversold.

A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, "How heavy is this glass of water? "

Answers called out ranged from 8oz. to 20oz. 

The lecturer replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it." 

"If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance." 

"In each case it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes." 

He continued, "And that's 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 won't 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're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden. " 

"So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work/life down. Don't carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow." 

"Whatever burdens you're carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can. Relax; pick them up later after you've rested. Life is short. Enjoy!"

IDEAs

I was exchanging emails today with a co-worker of mine from a latent design contracting job. Apparently they have been cutting back and many of my friends there have been getting laid off. It was great to catch up with her and offer her a resource to help her in her search to find new employment. In one of her reply emails she said:

"I was cleaning out my hard drive and files and keep finding your sketches and mock ups - you are a huge part of what make it such a great (and award-winning) UI! "

It was a nice ego booster to hear that people appreciated the work I did there, but then I stopped. "Award-winning?" Last I checked, I hadn't heard anything about winning any awards. When I checked back with her on it, she explained that our device won the bronze International Design Excellence Award (IDEA) which, according to 3M anyway, is one of the worlds most prestigious design competitions sponsored by Business Week magazine and the Industrial Designers Society of America.

Now, before my head gets too big I should mention that the award is for the entire product design of the device which took the work of many smart people. Still, how psyched am I to have taken part in designing the user interface to this cool dental device!? A part of that IDEA belongs to me, and you can rest assured, I will be bragging about it.