Stress is more powerful than you think

If you experience every day as an emergency, you will pay the price. – Robert Sapolsky, PhD*.

Dr. Sapolsky gives us this bold warning on page 13 of his book, Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers and it is not to be taken lightly.

Some people wear stress as a badge of honour. I work with clients who have normalized chronic stress and don’t realize how overwhelmed they really are. Others recognize stress is a problem in their life but aren’t sure what they can do about it.

When stress is chronic and unmanaged, it can become a serious health risk which could contribute to insomnia, chronic pain, anxiety, depression, relationship issues, a weakened immune system, or high blood sugar, to name just a few symptoms.

People who have experienced early developmental trauma have been forced to live in a chronic state of stress which takes its toll into adulthood. I have worked with hundreds of clients who use alcohol or drugs to cope with stress until this solution becomes an even bigger problem: addiction.

For more information about how stress impacts the body and mind from the World Economic Forum, read on:

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2024/05/mental-stress-bodies-health-awareness/

If your life feels out of balance, ask yourself:

• Am I assuming responsibility for something that is not actually mine?
• What can I let go of to make room for self-care?
• What am I afraid will happen if I say no?
• Is a relationship taking too much time or energy from me?
• What stops me from making my own needs a priority too?
• Whose life am I living anyway?

If you struggle with these questions, with setting boundaries, or making yourself a priority, then please call or email me. Things can get better. Talking helps.