With every year we have the opportunity to review our lives, to check in on how it s all sitting so to speak.
Work, home, relationships, kids, hobbies, oh and health!
Take a moment to sit with each situation or any other situation that is foremost in your life. When you have allowed yourself to feel a sense of a situation, how does it feel? Are you comfortable? Are you anxious? Whatever you feel in any situation may give you an insight into how its going for you.
Good feelings, warm and fuzzy, exciting, endearing etc is great! No problems.. Looking forward to situations, to seeing something through, having a feeling of momentum and solid enthusiasm is also great! Where you feel a degree of dread or concern, or where you might feel the impending time up until you have to return to work or home from holidays etc, there may be some issues to address.
Should you find yourself in anxiety or dread or even distress and panic over a situation, you will benefit from addressing those issues. I use the term “degrees of adaptation” in clinic. By this I refer to those small deviations from the path you have chosen. An extra few hours at work, another stop light and speed restriction on the way to work, another extension on the mortgage, One too many clients you said yes to…. The list is potentially endless. At some point you will reach one critical degree past your tolerance. The red button is pushed and… STRESS !! You are no longer coping or “adapting”
Now what?!
Stress response follows a roughly predictable pattern. That old chestnut Denial is usually the first strategy. The old head in the sand trick. Well that will work a treat….for a short time! Just keep on pushing in the same direction is another coping mechanism based on the theory of “surely if I push hard enough it ll all work out”.
Will it?
When it doesn’t, grumpy becomes the new you, when thats exhausted, the physical aspects can creep in. Headaches, weight changes, bowel upsets, fatigue etc, or more chronic conditions where Thyroid issues, hormone issues, inflammatory issues etc may occur. Combining a sound nutritional and emotional health program would benefit anyone finding themselves in such a situation. Integrating naturopathy, homeopathy and sound family psychology practices yields remarkable results.