Less Stress in 2009: Expert Advice

Women who make a career out of helping others handle stress are probably so well-adjusted that daily pressures and hassles don't get to them -- right? Not exactly. Turns out experts can have as much trouble managing stress as the rest of us. We asked psychologists, life coaches, mind-body doctors and other stress-fighting professionals to confess what they still struggle with -- and how they're resolving to do better.

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Marci Shimoff

The Expert: Marci Shimoff, coauthor of Chicken Soup for the Woman's Soul and Happy for No Reason: 7 Steps to Being Happy From the Inside Out

Stress Confession: I get overwhelmed! I suffer from the "too much to do, too little time" syndrome. I'm a classic multitasker, even though I know that it just makes me more stressed.

New Year's Resolution: Let things go. I'm going to try to pare down my list by saying no -- a key stress reliever. Sometimes it takes a crisis to spur these changes. Recently when I was traveling on business, someone stole my computer, my luggage was lost right before I was due to give a big speech, and back at home my water heater, stove and refrigerator all broke. I hadn't backed up the computer, so I lost a year's worth of work and 2,000 unanswered e-mails. My stress was through the roof. I stopped and asked myself, "What is the lesson and the gift?" And I realized that my life had gotten out of balance. I was saying yes to too many work-related things that I didn't enjoy. It was an opportunity to reevaluate my priorities.

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