Excuse me, are you stressed?

What does stress look like for you?

I used to think stress showed up as irrational behaviour, panic attacks over seemingly minor things, being highly strung, that kind of thing.

That was until I discovered I was showing signs of chronic stress.

On the surface I appeared calm, got my shit together and on the ball - the perfect facade.

If you paste on a smile and a happy demeanour people will only see what they want to see. To the outside world I appeared fine - but on the inside I was struggling.

What you didn't see was the broken sleep, the way I snapped at my family, or my weakened immune system that had me on the road to long term illness. I was suppressing thoughts and emotions to the point that I had very little outward reaction to extraordinary events going on around me.

I was eating whatever was convenient, not what my body actually needed. I was 'procrastin-eating', using food as a way to avoid things I didn't want to deal with. I lacked mental clarity, walking around in a brain fog most days because it was so full of 'supposed to dos' and guilt over not getting it done. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired.

The crunch came when I sat at my desk one day and noticed tears were streaming down my face, seemingly for no reason at all. I couldn't stop it no matter what I told myself about sucking it up, this looks really unprofessional, etc. I realised I was having an anxiety attack, something that had never happened to me before. I wrote a quick email and left the office early for the day, went home and pulled out every bit of info I could find about stress and how to deal with anxiety.

Once I became aware of it I was able to do something about it - I can't ignore this kind of thing when it comes to my attention, this is our one precious LIFE we're talking about, not something to toss carelessly aside in the assumption we can treat ourselves however we want and expect great results.

I took steps to reduce or remove stress from my life.

I walked away from a toxic work environment.

I set boundaries between my work life and my actual life. 

I focused on eating clean food to fuel my body rather than eating for the sake of eating. 

I started meditating every day, getting out of bed early because it fitted into my schedule, even when I didn't feel like it.

I became conscious of my self talk, the words I used in my head and out loud, about myself and about others.

I CREATED time instead of trying to FIND time.

And the stress dissipated. I felt whole, energised, my mind was clear... I felt HAPPY.

That doesn't mean stress doesn't reappear from time to time, its a natural thing to experience in the right circumstances, but I have strategies in place to deal with it when it DOES rear its head. Understanding the signs enables me to deal with it early and get myself back on track much faster.

Theres nothing particularly special about who I am or what I'm up to in life. Any one can create the life they want. But it's near impossible when you're working in a constant state of stress.

There's a 'sciency' reason behind that. The hippocampus - the part of our brain that consolidates memories - disengages when stress hormones go up. In a normal state this area of the brain allows us to use our imagination and see possibility, but that shuts down when the stress hormones kick in. We literally can't process new ideas or comprehend something new, no matter how good someone tells us it is.  We can't deal with the unknown, so we crave the familiar. We hold tight to established habits even when we know its not healthy or beneficial.

The hippocampus is capable of creating new connections every time we learn a new experience. If we're damaging that capability by living in a constant state of stress, we have very limited scope to embrace possibility. We can create fresh mental space by eliminating stressful factors, allowing endorphins and other 'feel good' hormones to flow. 

 Reduce stress, allow your brain to regenerate, and you'll soon crave adventure and change.

What are some self care strategies that you use, or would like to implement, to reduce stress in your life? 

Try something for a few weeks, adapt and change as needed, and test it again. You may quickly discover that you're calmer, sleeping better, excited about life... and that you are HAPPIER.