“Stress is quiet in your body… until it’s not” -Book Black Girls Must Be Magic–
As I was packing up my things once Zumba class was finished I heard my Instructor say ” don’t forget to join me in next thursday’s class. I’ll be celebrating 2 years since I had my heart attack”. I was immediately stunned. Here’s a beautiful, fit woman in her late 40s discussing a heart attack anniversary. I don’t know which made me more want to write this post, the fact it stung too close to home, or this unfortunately wasn’t the first time this week alone I heard a story from a woman of similar age discuss her stress related condition (both confirmed).
It’s been 6 years since I had my own “come to terms” conversation with my doctor. She told me “something has to change, stress, diet, or exercise. You choose”. Well at the time, I didn’t know all 3 was quite possible so I chose diet and became a pescatarian. That held off further illness, until the pandemic, when I had time to realize all three were necessary.
In the Book The Deepest Well, Dr. Burke-Harris defines psychosomatic stress as a physical illness caused or aggravated by a mental factor such internal or conflict stress.
According to the American Heart Association long-term activation of your body’s stress response system, along with prolonged exposure to cortisol and other stress hormones, may put you at risk for health troubles such as:
- digestive problems
- anxiety
- headaches
- depression
- sleep problems
- weight gain
- memory and concentration issues
- high blood pressure
- heart disease and stroke
Now that we’ve clearly established the need for stress management, how should you go about finding your individual methods, well I can only tell from experience every person is different. Recently, I journeyed to a “bucket list” concert in a different city alone. Just those couple days, I could feel the day to day tensions unburden my system and allow it time to “destress” fully without the normal responsibilities. This was my method, and what I needed. For others, that would be stressful haha, as some prefer to “de-stress” in the company of others, or relaxing by a beach, or hiking in a mountain. Essentially, go inward and figure out what is your individual way to destress and SCHEDULE IT. Yes, all caps was necessary as this is my #1 piece of advice for stress management. We schedule everything else in our life, take time to plan yours.
If you’ve made it this far in the article here’s a list of actions you can do today to start your stress management journey:
- Brainstorm your favorite activities that make you “feel” poured into.
- Key word “feel”. There are tons of advice and recommendations on self care, stress management, that may or may not be the right route for you. Take a moment to list out what’s right for you, and you may be surprised by what comes out. If you need a brainstorm tool, check out my post on the bullet journal method.
- Schedule them in your calendar (paper or phone). Even if you have to move them, they will be a constant reminder to do them.
- If you have a hobby, dive deeper into it, cultivate it
- Make time for loved ones in dedicated spaces, museum, park movie night, ect…
- Seek balance, give your body relief, rest to rest itself.
In peace,
J