Thanks for stopping by today, friends! Welcome to another edition of my Monday mental health posts. When I stumbled upon the above post on Facebook, it struck me. Partially because February is American Heart month but also because stress is something we call encounter. Maybe it isn’t too late to learn new ways to deal with it? What if we each decided to let go of stress?
I have been a Licensed Mental Health Counselor since 1997. I do not currently practice as I work in school counseling but I’ll never let my license expire. My Monday posts have a little more of a mental health theme designed to help you think a little differently. While I am certainly not dispensing advice or treatment, I do hope these posts help you. Initially I started blogging as a creative outlet and as a way to empower women in midlife and beyond to dress and feel like the best version of themselves everyday. I have come to realize that a big part of that is how we feel about life circumstances. Hence the reason for these posts!
Let Go of Stress – Your Life Depends on It
It sounds so threatening said that way, doesn’t it? Let go of stress – your life depends on it. But it is true, stress can lead to all kinds of health problems, including heart disease. It’s not so much the stress itself, it’s how we cope with and deal with stress that threatens our lives.
Think about it. Some people smoke, drink, over eat, take drugs to escape stress. The problem is that none of these behaviors do anything to remove the stress, they are temporary escapes. They also lead to other problems that just fuel the cycle of stress. On and on it goes.
Learned Reactions
Most of us learned how to cope with stress in our families of origin. We watched our mothers, fathers, relatives, and other influential adults in our lives, deal with life. Reactions could include anger, addiction, abuse. Can you relate?
Some of us had the opposite experience. Some families dealt with stress in healthy ways. Emotions were managed. Helpful and healthy behaviors were employed. Is this you? It wasn’t me. It was not at all how I was raised.
Our learned reactions shaped our lives, for good or bad. But like other habits, they can be changed. I am a strong proponent of the notion that you cannot merely eliminate a bad habit, you must replace it with something else.
My Experience with Stress
I remember internalizing stress. As a child I would worry myself sick over things – dental appointments, money, friends, tests. The stress took on physical discomfort for me – my left arm would tingle and feel numb sometimes (so scary!), I would get ulcers in my mouth (the week I had to sit for the GRE exam). I couldn’t sleep and I would generally feel awful. A lot of these things happened while I was working on my degree in psychology as well as my master’s degree in the same. Go figure.
The good thing about life though is that when we open our eyes and see what’s around us, we learn other ways. I remember seeing other people who seemed to roll with the punches much more easily than I did. They had peace. I wanted that. It was something to aspire to. I watched, I asked questions, I let myself be vulnerable. I took a long look at how I was raised.
My spiritual life and Christianity also played a major role in my adulthood. I became active in my church and joined different bible study groups and read my bible. This armed me with tools to employ when stress came my way. When I wake up in the middle of the night and a stressful situation is front and center, I pray and work VERY hard to give it to God. Trust me when I say that I know this is easier said than done and sounds co cliche. I don’t want you to be fooled into thinking that when I find myself tossing and turning at night that I simply say a prayer and roll over and go back to sleep. Not even close. I work at it and I find peace.
For what it’s worth, moving my body helps me deal regularly equips me with the tools to handle most of the day to day minutiae. Rather than keeping all the energy inside I have a way to release it. I feel stronger and more confident. It has changed my perspective on things. I can do hard things. I can deal with hard things. I can let things go. I don’t have to solve all the problems. Life will go on. I will be okay.
These are just some of things I do to manage stressful situations. The quality of your life depends on how to live it and how you handle stress. None of us is immune but each of us can decide how we deal with stress.
I hope this gives you some things to think about. I’d love to know what you do when you feel stressed. Are you aware of it? Do you make changes to avoid it? Tell me below!
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