Life is full of highs and lows, peaks and valleys. It's said that our character is built during times of crisis....that we always come out stronger on the other side. At least, we come out a changed person. I recently posted about stress and how people choose to handle it-- Do you stop eating during the tough times or bury your problems with food? I'm going to continue on a bit with the topic of stress and how to find a healthy "drain" to be able to manage it.
Everyone needs to find their drain. I've seen first hand what internalizing your stress can do to your body. It can eat you from the inside out. Even if you think you are managing stress the best that you can, the anxiety and tension that you are holding can be destructive. I've experienced what it is like to try and eat your problems away as I am an emotional eater, or at least was for most of my adult life. Even now, as an extremely disciplined person, I sometimes feel the need to bury my face in a bag of chips or a box of Girl Scout cookies. I can stop myself now and realize that it's not worth it and that it won't help, but it's taken a long time to get there.
Below is a "drain" visualization that I got out of the book, The Female Body Breakthrough, by Rachel Cosgrove. It's fantastic. Read on...
"...All of us have a tub that we fill with our stressful events. Some of us have huge tubs and can handle a lot of stress without it affecting us too much. Other people have smaller tubs and can't handle much at all, and the smallest obstacle in their life can overflow their small tub. Each stress is pouring into the tub from a faucet. Each type of stress has its own faucet. You may have one faucet pouring into your tub that is financial stress, another one that is relationship stress, another that's family stress, and another that's career stress. Identify all your faucets. What do you have flowing into your tub of stress? Some of these faucets may only be trickling in, while others are on full blast, quickly filling up your tub. The problems come when your tub gets full and starts to overflow. This is when you have symptoms of stress- you may develop anxiety or depression, or you may get sick. Everyone has a different response. But, when your tub is overflowing, your body is not burning fat and building muscle- big problem. Instead, it is in a state of panic and will hold onto fat. When people are under extra stress and their tub is full, they carry more body fat on their bellies."
She goes on to ask "What can you do to manage this?" Ask yourself these questions:
1) Can you turn down or off any of the faucets? Can you hand off something that is stressing you out to someone else or not deal with it for the time being, until some of your other faucets are turned down? Decrease the amount of stress coming in if you can. If you can't reduce, try prioritizing.
2) Start putting drains in the bottom of your tub. Drains are actions you can take to destress, like down time or exercise. Taking care of yourself, eating right, and getting enough sleep are all drains that will help you deal with the stress that is coming in.
Keep your tub from overflowing. Find your drains and keep yourself healthy.
