Driving a taxi need not be taxing

Taking up a job as a taxi driver might not be everyone's idea of stress-relief. But for Chris Edmonds (55), Enniskerry, Co Wicklow it was just the tonic he needed he after 20-odd years working as a motor salesman.

"Any sales job is stressful. It's a young man's game, and in the motor trade I saw quite a lot of heavy smokers and heavy drinkers," says the father-of-three.

"I had no other focus than satisfying the people I worked for, and meeting my own financial need."

Looking back, he realises he was a victim of the "boiled-frog syndrome". "If you bring a pot to the boil slowly the frog doesn't notice but if you do it quickly he hops out. It's the same with people. They make excuses as to why they can't change, and by the time they finally make up their minds it's too late."

Edmonds is now three years' in self-employment, and notes: "I don't have that Monday morning or Sunday night feeling anymore, that feeling of dread about going back to the garage."

He has also helped to beat stress by going on regular walking trips to as far away as Norway and Spain.

"It's important to give time to yourself," he says. "Walking doesn't cost you anything. It's very good exercise, away from the traffic and fumes. You can get lost in the hills and forget about any troubles you have."