Stress

I have decided to talk about stress for this blog.  I am by no means an expert on the subject, but everyone has their own way of dealing with stress.

Looking up the definition of stress was quite interesting.  I felt that WHO (World Health Organization) had the best definition that everyone can understand: “Stress can be defined as a state of worry or mental tension caused by a difficult situation. Stress is a natural human response that prompts us to address challenges and threats in our lives. Everyone experiences stress to some degree. The way we respond to stress, however, makes a big difference to our overall well-being”.

There are all kinds of ways people deal with stress.  To name a few, people exercise, eat, drink, smoke, read, go for a drive, read, or revert to God and use His lessons to get through the stressful event(s) that is occurring for them.  My “go to” is food when it comes to stress.  It always has been.  I am not sure why.  It could be because growing up, our family never had any food.  When I “discovered” how the sugary or bad foods such as ice cream, donuts – specifically eclairs, Ho-ho’s, milky-ways, potato chips, Doritos and Mountain Dew made me feel, it was an escape mechanism for me.  That short temporary high after eating my favorites.  It was worth it to me.  Now, I think it is more of a memory that is a comfort for me which I continue to use today even though I KNOW it is not good for me and it is a TEMPORARY fix.

When “my back is up against the wall”, stress occurs.  I react with anger and there are things that I never knew I could do or say.  I never know what will come out of my mouth or what kind of actions I will do.  This is a person that I DO NOT like when “I” feel there is no solution, or “I” have been cornered.  As I am writing about this, I am beginning to see it is why I revert to the “favorite foods” to deal with the stress that I am going through because the “my back is up against the wall” person is not a very nice person.  I am a firm believer that emotions are the backbone of life.  “Emotions last longer than 90 seconds because we continue to fuel them with our thoughts. We do this by telling ourselves the same stories about the triggering situation over and over. This is when they stop being emotions and start becoming moods.”  ― Faith G. Harper, Unfuck Your Brain:  Using Science to Get Over Anxiety, Depression, Anger, Freak-outs, and Triggers.  So, I think to myself, the key becomes this…  if you can ride out the 90 seconds of emotions that flood your brain or body, and let logic take over your emotions BEFORE you respond to what is triggering that stress level for you, you’ve got it made.  It sounds simple right?  Not so much for a lot of us.  For me, that is where the food comes in and it is where the “awful Karen” comes in.  I never know which one will surface.  I think it is because I am continuing to “hold on” to memories that unconsciously tie in with the stress that is going on in my life at that moment.  I think I am getting better at it, but there are times where I just cannot… 

I am always looking for ways and avenues to deal with the everyday stress or the once in a blue moon “bam!!, the continuous “one right after another” stress level never seems to stop.  I know exercise DOES help me, but I am not very good at sticking to it.  I will be diligent for several weeks, then suddenly, the “bam” moment hits, and I revert back to sleeping, doing nothing, doing anything all at once or eating to escape instead of working out when that is truly the healthiest way for me to deal with stress.  When people tell me, “you should go and work out because you do better when you work out” or when I say the exact same thing, my ‘stubbornness” kicks in and I KNOW that it is not logical, I just won’t work out.  What does it boil down to??  Laziness, wanting to wallow in it, WHAT??? 

While I am rambling on and on here, it does not sound like a solution or steps in the right direction are anywhere to be found.  However, for me, I am beginning to find teachings from Joyce Myer help calm me down and make me look at things from a different perspective.  There are, in my mind, two common denominators to her teachings…  “Live life with love” and “if it doesn’t have anything to do with you, let it go”.  It is THEIR feelings, not yours, it has nothing to do with you.  I think I will be re-reading her book The Battlefield of the Mind because that book was the start of me continuing to listen or watch Joyce Myer. 

Journaling…  My nemesis.  I am going to try it again.  I want to start writing at night because the day is still fresh on my mind.  When I wake up the next morning, the day before will not seem so bad.  Maybe writing at night is better…….