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Stress Relief Thought of the WeekLimbo
For me, one of those times is now. Without delving too deeply into the personal particulars, I am waiting for resolution of a situation that is largely out of my control. I am waiting because I have already ruled out the non-waiting alternatives as things I don't want to do because they would run counter to my value system, even though they would give me more of a sense of control. So, to be true to myself, I am requiring myself to wait. I am not good at waiting. I like to confront and resolve things as quickly as possible, but I have learned that some things cannot be confronted and resolved quickly. One challenge is not letting the situation, along with the waiting, stress me out. Another challenge is not letting myself respond to the situation by not maintaining myself and my life. For me, not maintaining constitutes slowing myself down to a crawl, as if I could stop my life and then resume it when resolution comes. I live with chronic depression, so I have to really watch it when I start slowing down. Slowing down also stresses me out. So I have to work at stress relief by not letting either the original situation or my response to it stress me out. Don't get me wrong, these things are stressors; there's no denying it. A friend of mine once likened mental health to surfing. You are balancing on a moving board that slides along a surface that itself is perpetually moving. To stay on, you have to make constant, minute adjustments requiring quick decisions and much flexibility. It's hard, but the ride is exhilarating and beautiful. You fall down a lot but you keep getting back on the board. O.k., so here's where I am going with this. If you stiffen up on a surf board, you fall off. You have to bend your knees and relax your body. The way you master surfing is to relax and go with the board and the water. You learn to really feel the board and water to find out what adjustments you need to make. You get in harmony with the board and the water and everything starts to flow and it becomes music. The moment you stiffen or try to control everything, you fall. So what I am trying to do is, relax and be in harmony with the waiting. One way I do this is not to focus on "waiting." Life goes on and I can choose to be in a waiting state...or not. To stay relaxed, I focus on the joy I find in the everyday rhythms of my life -- my morning coffee, feeding and petting the animals, reading, checking the mail, working on the computer, talking on the phone. In other words, I try to live in the moment. I stay in close touch with my sense of humor and remind myself to stay light. I take deep breaths. Also, when I need to cry I do a little crying. Then I get up and wash my face. The thing with life is that everything passes. This waiting is temporary. This situation will resolve. It's just a wave on the ocean of my life, so I grip the board with my feet, spread my arms, and surf.
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Stress NewsIt's National Stress Awareness Month!Did you know April is National Stress Awareness Month? Since 1992, thanks to the Health Resource Network, Americans have a month to focus on the problem of stress and how to better handle it. According to HRN's website, health care professionals and people who promote health are disseminating information and leading forums, discussion groups, and community events to raise awareness and educate the public about stress.
There's also a National Stress Awareness Day -- April 16, the day after taxes are due.
Which may make it a great occasion on which to reflect about starting your taxes
earlier next year. Gene Reduces Vulnerability to StressIf you handle stress well, you may have mom and dad to thank. UCLA researchers studying the IL6 gene and the biochemical pathway that triggers it have discovered that people who have a less common variant of the gene may be more able to withstand life's stressful events. The IL6 gene controls the body's immune response, causing inflammation when activated during the body's "fight or flight" response to stress. The most common variant of IL6 is associated with cardiovascular disease and cancer, and people with this variant have an increased risk of death for 11 years after suffering a stressful life event severe enough to trigger depression. But a less common version of IL6 lacks the pathway for stress to trigger it, resulting in no increased risk of death following major stress for those who carry it. The study will appear in an upcoming issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.(UCLA News Release, 2/10)
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Stress During Learning Affects Ability to Remember StuffIf you want to retain what you learn, don't try to learn it when you're under stress. German researchers subjected people to stress (immersing their hands in cold water -- ouch!) while they were learning words. During recall and recognition tests 24 hours later, the numb-handed people performed less well than control subjects who were not exposed to stress during the learning exercise.(Journal of Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 2/10) |
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