I'm not sure about you, but stress is very much a part of my everyday life.Stress has seemed to follow me since I was a child and it’s something I have dealt with my entire life. I absolutely hate saying this, but I don't know what life looks like without stress. It makes me sad to acknowledge this. It's not that I like being stressed, but it’s all I have ever known. I am used to it. It is a part of my daily routine and it has been a tough character flaw to release of mine. Stress is something I have clung to when I need to get something done. Stress is something I crave when I feel "unproductive". Sometimes, I even get high off the adrenaline rush of stress. It's insane. I hate it. If you are a type B person, you will probably have no idea what the heck I am talking about. If you are a type A person, you probably know EXACTLY what I am saying and this may hit you to your core.
Let’s talk about what the definition of stress is before we go into more detail. Wikipedia says that, “Stress is a feeling of strain and pressure.” Stress is a normal reaction in our bodies and when we get stressed, our bodies react in a “fight or flight” response which triggers cortisol levels to go up and puts strain on our adrenal glands. Stress, quite literally, puts strain and pressure on the body and nervous system. When we are stressed to finish an assignment, complete a project, run a mile, do the dishes, engage in an argument, or simply keep up with social media, it puts STRAIN AND PRESSURE on us. In small doses, like running a mile for example, stress can be beneficial; but for most of us, we are stressed out way more than we should be.
Much of my childhood was very stressful. I don’t remember many times as a child that I wasn’t stressed. I did not have a care-free childhood which meant that my body was used to experiencing a high amount of stress on a daily basis. I plan on publishing a whole piece on my health story but in short, all of the stress caught up to me and I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, leaky gut, and adrenal fatigue at 19 years old.
I am the first to know how damaging stress is for the body, yet I still engage in the act of being stressed every single day. It’s like a drug that I cannot quit. I choose to over-extend myself, take on too much and put unnecessary pressure on myself in order to feel like an accomplished person. Feeling accomplished and feeling stressed go hand-in-hand for me and it’s taken me a long time to realize that it is not normal or healthy.
I think of stress like I think of grocery shopping. Little stressors add up just like I add items to my shopping cart. A new weekly commitment? Add it. A new goal to achieve? Add it. Someone else’s opinion? Add it. Something I SHOULDbe doing? Add it. A bed full of clothes to fold? (my current reality) Add it. Little stressors add up and up and I don’t even realize it until I am having a panic attack for no apparent reason. Do you ever find yourself at a grocery store with a cart full of items that weren’t on your list? That’s kind of how stress is, you add unnecessary stressors to your life without even realizing it until you have an overflowing cart. I know that I am not the only one who feels this way. There are people DYING everyday over stress-related illnesses. We need to get better at managing stress before it completely consumes us.
I am by no means an expert on managing stress but over the years I have developed a tool kit of things I do to manage my stress. I would encourage you to experiment with your own ideas and find things that work for YOU.
Why I made the switch to liquid collagen.