Many of us are stressed beyond belief, but we can't figure out why. And, looking at the retail sales of anxiety medications and over the counter drugs, we're living in one of the most stress filled times in human history. It could be the fear that we're losing our retirement money in the tanking stock market. Or possibly it's the fact that one fifth of the job force where we work has been let go and we think there's a good chance that we might be next. Or maybe it's just wondering how we can possibly ignore the negative influences all around us and raise our children in a moral environment. These things, and more, are slowly starting to wear us down and fray our nerves to the point where we are desperately looking for solutions to take some of the stress out of our lives.

One of the best ways of dealing with stress is to do what it takes to get just three things in life. The main reason that many people are feeling stressed out is a sense that they've lost control over their lives. It's easy to be relaxed and stress free when you're in control. When you have money, health, and security - you're in control, and relaxed.

Money - it's no secret that money is the grease that makes modern society work. With enough money, you're able to move your family to a respectable neighborhood, and not have to worry about crime or security. With enough money, you don't have to worry about health care. You'll have a nice health insurance policy, go to the best doctors, and generally have access to the best possible health care. And, in this economy, where people are having trouble finding jobs, how can you be certain that you'll have all the money you need? The answer is, if your livelihood depends on others, then you can't. If you want to have the money necessary to give you the stress free life that you crave, you have to take control of your financial welfare out of your employer's hand and put it into your own. To do that, takes planning. With planning, you'll be able to decide if you need to go to school to get more skills, if you need to network to get more money making opportunities, or if you should start your own business.

Health - without health, life is not much fun. Being sick, is stressful not only on your mind and body, but it can be financially draining as well. There's no way that any of us can guarantee ourselves an injury and illness free existence. But what we can do is to control the foods we eat and how we take care of ourselves. Researchers estimate that many of the catastrophic diseases that shorten our lifespans - heart disease, cancer, strokes, hypertension, diabetes - are largely triggered by lifestyle and food choices.

Security - from the time we are babies, we're all looking for security. We have policeman to make our cities and towns secure. We have soldiers to make our country secure. And we have building guards to make our homes and offices secure. And as a result, we're less stressful.

So if you want to live a stress free life, the key is to get these three things - money, health, and security - into your life. If you get them, no matter how, you're pretty much guaranteed to live a pretty stress free existence.