I have found that the more frenzied and frantic my life seems to get, the more stress-relieving activities I tend to drop from my schedule. Why on earth do I make such a ridiculously counteractive decision? Well, it goes like this:
I get busier than usual. This makes me extra tired, which causes extra stress, which makes me even more tired! So, at the end of my day when I might otherwise play a few computer games or write in my journal or blog or crochet some stress away, I just lay down in bed and watch tv while not crocheting because I'm already too busy to consider multi-tasking while I'm trying to relax. I end up staying up late, watching tv into the wee hours because my stressed body can't relax enough to fall asleep but eventually just falling asleep only to wake up tired and groggy, thus perpetuating the cycle.
Or it might happen this way:
I get money worries. This helps my headaches multiply and increase in intensity, which makes me tired and irritable. I quickly stop doing anything that disturbs my head, such as playing the piano, reading, doing sudoku puzzles, crocheting, or listening to music. Funny, all those things are stress relievers for me. Without my "First Aid Kit for Stress", I quickly beging the Stress Spiral, spinning out of control and again perpetuating the cycle.
Then there's the ever-present "Feeling Yucky" factor. Maybe it's muscle aches. Could be sore glands. Lately, it's been hip, knee, and leg pain. Might also be nausea. Let us not forget the darling daily allergies. There is a plethora of possible symptom combinations. I don't feel good enough to go for a walk, go to the gym, do that exercise video, etc. Too bad for me, because WOW....that would be so good for my stress levels, and oddly enough, good for my health, as well!!
So if I know what to do to help with stress relief and overall well-being, why do I neglect to do those things when I need them the most? That is my question today. Why, why, why??
Pithy bits of advice would be welcome. Please, no links to medical articles or dissertations, as this might cause more stress, and we all know how I might deal with THAT!!!
3 comments:
Well, I was going to link you to my latest published article in the New England Journal of Medicine, wherein I answer all your questions and solve all your problems, but oh well, if you don't want to read it, your loss.
Okay, seriously, I think you react this way because it's NORMAL. We have things in our life that we can't control, whether it's medical or financial or emotional or physical...we can't do anything about them, or at least not as much as we'd like.
So we control what we can, and that means, "Oh, I'm exhausted. I can't cut out the exhaustion. I can't cut out my job/kids/house/illness to relieve the exhaustion. So I'm going to cut out this fun thing, because it's one less thing I have to do."
Maybe it would help to find an alternative -- if music relieves your stress, but playing the piano aggravates your headache, how about sitting outside if it's a nice day, breathing the fresh air, feeling the sun on your face, and letting some relaxing music play in the background?
Or read a good book, to get away from your worries for a few hours. Or write in your blog because it's therapeutic, and you might sleep better once you've gotten your worries down on paper -- er, hard drive, or whatever.
Or meet me for lunch (my treat) and chat, and laugh, and let it all out. Do I have a taker?
Sometimes when I'm uber stressed, the Spirit will say, "Go do XYZ," and I find if I listen to that prompting then I can relieve some stress.
Sometimes it takes energy to do that thing you need to do and when you have no energy then there's no place to begin. Its a conundrum. I find that if I write myself a note when I feel somewhat better, and then read it to myself when I have no energy I can sometimes salvage a bit of energy from my earlier self in order to get myself doing what I told myself to do. If all else fails, call me. Not sure that would be too motivating, but I'm pretty sure we would both enjoy it :-)
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