I caught up with a good friend at Starbucks today. She was
sharing what a stressful few months it had been. She’s getting married in June
and while it’s super exciting, it’s also meant wedding planning stress on top
of work stress on top of family stress. All this has led to her skipping exercise, an outlet that has always been emotionally grounding for her.
In chatting with another stay-at-home mom friend who’s
getting ready to graduate with her PhD, she discussed the long, arduous journey
of dissertation. For her it’s been months of dissertation stress on top of mom
to small children stress on top of general life stress. Her go-to way to deal
has been emotional eating. Specifically, she’s a sucker for anything fruity and
gummy. It’s delicious. Who can blame her?
Then, of course, there’s me. I almost always maintain a
baseline of career stress. Then when you add health stress on top of relational
stress on top of state-of-the-world stress, it’s easy for that glass of wine to
turn into two or sometimes even three.
What do all of us have in common? When life gets real (as it
always does) our self-care diminishes. We turn to quick fixes to soothe and numb rather than manage what troubles our soul in healthy ways. It’s not a
personal judgment; simply an observation. The reality is that when stress
increases self-care should increase. How often is that the case though? How
often do we just turn to vices and go-to comforts rather than really dealing
with the heart of the matter?
April is National Stress Awareness Month. How many of you
can relate to these scenarios? If you can, what might you change to move toward
true wellness and wholeness? It all begins by assessing where you are. It begins
with a vitals check.
If
you could benefit from an honest personal inventory about where you are and how
well you’re really
doing, order your copy of “Vitals Check
Workbook.” E-books
available for immediate download.
