It’s still stress awareness month. I’ve been fairly stressed since the bully ban #was announced, and had my fair share of additional stress through the winter, some my own making and some not, and this month has been… well I will spare anyone reading the details but it hasn’t been good.
But before the month is out I also wanted to dispel a myth about stress – that is the myth that stress is all bad. (Bear with – yeh – I know, even having written that it feels weird reading it back)
Stress often kickstarts me into getting something done or finished. I hate finishing complicated jobs: it’s the point where I can no longer add perfecting finishing touches to it because it’s leaving my hands. It’s an anticlimax: I know I’ll be in purgatory until my next interest shows itself. Even if it’s not leaving my hands… finished this belt an hour before I was out the door! It was the same with all my uni coursework – last minute, 2 am, fingernails flying over the keyboard like scuttling cockroaches! My house is never cleaner than when I have a paperwork deadline looming! (Haha and I didn’t know I had ADHD!)
But also, I feel stressed when something is wrong. Stress lets me know that something is wrong in my life often before I know it myself. Why am I tense all over? Why are my teeth gritted all day to the point where I have jaw ache? If I allow myself the time to stop and process, sometimes I can figure out why, what’s bothering me and put it right.
Stress can points out problems and motivate you to improve your lot a bit – but only if you’re not stressed to the point of “survival mode”, where you’re not aware even of basic body needs!
I’ll finish there, but wanted to stress – be aware of stress – what is it telling you?
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