Stress is our body’s response to the world around us. It is our conflict with choosing between fight and flight. Throughout April, it’s important to acknowledge all the good and bad qualities of stress that affect our lives. Good stress keeps you on your toes, keeps your brain functioning without going into overdrive, keeps us curious and learning and alert.
Stress is a normal part of life; it is when we let it get out of hand that it starts to do significant damage to our bodies. As a woman who works behind a desk and has deadlines to think of, I understand a little something about stress. What you need to know is that stress can be just as bad or even worse than an illness. The physical signs can manifest as headaches, tension in the muscles, restless sleeps as well as stomach and digestive problems.
Try and look at bad stress as poison, causing irritability, mood swings, anxiety, low productivity, forgetfulness, and lack of fulfillment. Now, how do we stop the poison from spreading, and furthermore, how do we eliminate the poison once and for all? In almost all cases, we forget how easy it is to practice stress prevention. Life is too busy. Work is too hard and too demanding and, no matter what, we can’t seem to control uncontrollable circumstances.
As humans we have this burning desire to try and carry the world on our shoulders, and worse, think that we have a say in circumstances of which we have zero control. Just as we can’t stop the weather, we have no control over past mistakes or accidents that occur. Things happen. Bad things happen just like good things happen; it’s a matter of knowing how to cope and eventually take control of our way of thinking that will be our best defense against stress.
The glass isn’t half-empty, it’s half-full; however, our desire to take on all the burdens of the world is like picking up the glass, dropping it, and watching it shatter at our feet. We can’t do it. We’re not strong enough. Let the burden go, because once you have, you can focus on what’s most important—you.
Throughout the month of April, I am going to post tips and techniques to battle stress effectively, but the important thing to remember this month is that the real cause of stress is our inability to accept the things we can’t change.
