Greetings Aaron.

Demands. Expectations. These can drive a person into anxiety. Anxiety is about failure of some sort– which is loss, which is death. Demands and expectations exist, but what I find is that we BOOST these driving pressures against ourselves. We add a personal narrative to facts of the moment. Mindfulness combats this.

Stress comes from working against the reality of the moment. We want something to happen that isn't happening. That is the nature of stress. We go against the truth of the moment. See things as they are, then assess.

Where is your body? Here in the moment. Where is your mind? Is it here, on the task, in the moment? Or is in the past or on the future (the next moment)?

You can never lose your flow. You can only gum it up a bit by losing awareness and getting Caught in Thought.

Start again. Now. New. Here. Let go. You don't have to be the person of yesterday or the person of tomorrow. You need nothing to BE.

Your thoughts might be driven by expectation of the day, but you don't have to go with them. Notice them. It is all about participation.

Usage strengthens. Disuse causes atrophy.

A question I ask is: "What am I participating in?" If it is stealing my awareness. If so, I stop, take a breath, get present, then resume.

Practice will strengthen your awareness, and awareness will do the work. Remember... you are nature.

:)