Bundle of Nerves

Stress is so powerful. Almost as powerful as fear. It is something that has guided and controlled a large part of my life for many years. It has made me function on overdrive to relieve it. It has made me not function due to the weight of it.

Stress affects many people in different ways. It is able to motivate and debilitate depending on the person and the amounts of it. The stress hormone is actually a survival mechanism. It originated to help us with our “fight or flight” decisions.

The long-term activation of the stress-response system — and the subsequent overexposure to cortisol and other stress hormones — can disrupt almost all your body’s processes. This puts you at increased risk of numerous health problems, including:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Digestive problems
• Headaches
• Heart disease
• Sleep problems
• Weight gain
• Memory and concentration impairment

That’s why it’s so important to learn healthy ways to cope with the stressors in your life. (http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress/art-20046037)

On a good day my stress motivates me to complete my tasks. The rest of the days it gives me anxiety, disrupts my sleep, I have gained weight from binge eating and it has effected my memory and concentration.

Sometimes without knowing it I pick at or bite off my cuticles. They look awful, like an animal chewed them up.

I have tried meditation – however my ADHD does not allow me to have a blank mind or repeat a phrase more than a handful of times.

The thing I hate most about stress is how it piles on and I gain a short fuse and little filter. I try really hard not to get snippy with those I care about and others, but let’s be real – the ones we love the almost always get the brunt of it.

The ebb and flow of stress can be a relief and a burden. It allows you to get short breaks, but also piles on. Many positive life events can cause major stress – this is important to remember because a lot of times people associate stress with negative things.

I know that stress is something that will always exist in my life. I am working on getting a handle on how I deal with it.

Comment below and let me know how do you deal with stress?