Tomorrow, you are one day closer to the next chapter of your life.

The day after that, you have graduated college and are on to your first job.

And finally, the day after that, you have little grandchildren running around and are retired at a beach home in Florida with your significant other.

Yesterday, we all said we would do whatever we needed to do and now we are cramming to get it done for the deadline today, or tomorrow, or whenever it is due or needed.

Quite simply, time flies and so does everything surrounding us.

We all get that feeling of being trapped in the ever-growing and swirling vortex of work that has wreaked havoc on all of our daily lives.

What do we do?

How do we get out of it and finally get to the eye of the storm?

That answer lies within each and every one of us.

Taking walks, painting or reading a good book are some common ways we all stray from the stress-coated sidewalks and take the less-traveled dirt road to relaxation.

But life is not simple.

Life is not easy.

Life took a strong right hook to stress’s lower left jaw, but the opponent is not down.

Stress countered with a flurry of jabs to the gut and finished life off with an uppercut that knocked him out cold.

We all think we get out of the clear and we have no more worries.

“I graduated college; life is going to be a breeze from now on.”

It really is not that simple.

You may have a kid, or multiple children, and then you have to wake up at 3 a.m. and you will not get much sleep that night, or the next few nights or weeks.

It is hard to win the small things in our everyday lives.

Speaking of which, do we ever really win life?

Technically speaking, we all lose. We all have to die at some point, right? But we all have to win at some point, too.

We get scared, we get overwhelmed, we want to throw our nicest vase against the wall.

But holding back is helpful to get through the dark times and getting the good to feel even better.

That is why winning all the little battles helps in the end.

We fight now to get the satisfaction of putting it all out there and winning the small things in life.

We all face the vortex of stress, and toughing it out is, well, tough.

Life is uncertain, yet certainly overwhelming. But there are ways to escape and put those worries to bed, even if just temporarily.

The editorial staff can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].