Wellness Wednesday – Stress and Life

It’s been a bit since I’ve posted. I have no desire to write rambling words just to write rambling words. We are bombarded on a daily basis with words, noises, sounds. Some of them are beautiful. I experienced alot of beautiful sounds over 3 days this past week. The voices of all four of our kids, a dog barking in our home, laughter, cars running, cheering and cow bells, singing happy birthday. I loved it, every minute of it.

However there was one moment, a very brief one, thank goodness, when my husband said, “it’s perfect weather and I haven’t done one “productive” thing. (His work is predominantly outdoor work) We stopped and looked around at our kids, smiled and knew we were okay, “work” or no work. It was a GREAT day, a just right day. But why did he even think that? Now I won’t lie. I knew my normal daily duties were also “backing up”. There is more laundry,carpets to be vacuumed, and paper work to be done today but this time I was not worried. I knew it would get done. In America we have worked ourselves into illness, crazy guilt ridden illness.  Need proof? Consumer Reports On Health magazine, October 2012 says this,  Yet another study has been released linking stress to an increased risk of having a heart attack. The research found that women with high-stress jobs (where they are subject to many demands but have little control) were 67 percent more likely to have a heart attack than women in less intense jobs. The analysis was based on data gathered from 22,086 women in the health-care fields during a 10-year period, and was published in the July 2012 issue of the journal PLoS One.  “Stress is a natural part of life,” says the study’s lead researcher, Michelle Albert, M.D., M.P.H. an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a cardiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. But she says an abundance of stress can overpower the body and put you in a constant “fight or flight” mode, which can have negative effects on multiple organ systems, including the heart.

The list of links to specific physical ailments goes on and on. Another report they did asked what stressors if any Americans had experienced the day before. The list was long at the top of it was financial worries, work troubles, personal health issues, family health issues and then tension with a partner. I have experienced these things. I bet you have too. The sad thing is we do it to ourselves. I’d like to blame society – but who is society? It’s us. I’ve asked people (friends) to help me with something and then been upset when they said no, they were too busy. I should support them in their decision not to overload themselves.

I feel guilty when someone asks me for help, after all it is a really good cause, something I truly care about. However, if my plate is full at that time, “just one more thing” is not a good thing. We need boundaries. We need to choose what we do and do it well, giving it all we’ve got and then let go. Trust God. No matter what we think we are not responsible for the world as a whole. We are only responsible for our part of the world.  Over this past weekend my part of the world was our family, mostly our kids. We took a break from our normal daily work life and engaged fully in time with our family. The Farmer’s Market for pumpkins, a birthday party, a Half Marathon, watching football and playing cards. No we will never get that time back to rake leaves, do laundry, write blogs or….but I know a bit more about my kids. I have memories that make me smile and I will have them for my lifetime. I am healthier today than I was last week. I was ready to go back to work yesterday and really work, to concentrate and give it all I had.

Are you letting stress rule your life?