"Addicted to Stress" inspired by the work of Dr. Hans Selye

There are few things I like talking about more than about reducing stress through the narrative discourse using the first person viewpoint, first, because of the results second, because, once a client has done it, it is almost like starting to write on a clean slate. I would say that doing this work is "a return to life". It is a wonderful way to clean up the past and reach levels of joy and fulfilment never reached before. 

When we talk of stress, there are people who say they that stress is good! I say there are different kinds of stress. The stress that keeps ypu up at night, that leaves you tired and out of joint to do what life demands of you is bad stress. The problem is that some people cumulate the effects of their stress, not only in their minds but also in their bodies. STRESS BREAKS US!

"The Stress of Life"

"It is not to see something first but to establish solid connections between the previously known and the hitherto unknown, that constitutes the essence of scientific discovery. It is this process of tying together which can best promote true understanding and real progress"

Hans Selye, M.D. "The Stress of Life"

In his book, "When the Body Says No: the Cost of Hidden Stress", Gabor Maté asks these very pertinent questions:

-When is stress too much?

-What is your fear?

-Are you fearful that if you don't take on something, you might be rejected or perceived as weak?

-Are you afraid that if you stop, you will feel your unhappiness?

-Or does being so busy define you and provide you with a sense of your identity?

-Is that how you measure your self-value?

An ideal candidate for stress

This is the story of my friend Sonia. She is a real person and for years she had reminded me of a Philadelphia cheese commercial on TV where an angel claimed running to yoga classes stressed her. 

                                                           Addicted to Stress

Seing the whole picture
Even if I considered my friend Sonia a serious contender for being a zen master, I used to think I wasn't seing the whole picture. She walked two hours a day, meditated 5 days a week, belonged to the gym, went swimming every other day, but despite these healthy habits, her life was out of control. Long hours in her work as an nurse and volunteer commitments were taking their toll on her sunny disposition until she realized she prided herself on her ability to handle her multi-task juggling act to the detriment of a more manageable lifestyle. This is when she understood that she was addicted to stress.

Adrenalin is like a drug

As a child, my friend Sonia came from a dysfonctional family where all kinds of things were happening. So that through her frantic lifestyle, she was accustomed to high level of cortisol and adrenalin. She did not perceive her lifestyle as stressful until she felt out of control after her thyroid ceased to function properly. She was used to the level of stress she had experienced as a youngster growing up in her whacky family.

Even after stopping the threadmill, my friend was tempted to return to old habits, but after some inner work, she started getting her life in real balance.

Alarming statistics about extreme stress
Statistics Canada claims 1.5 million women between the ages of 20 to 44 years old say they suffer from "extreme stress". Today, women are proud of their ability to shoulder every demand, equating stress with success.

The consequences of chronic stress
The consequences of chronic stress range from exasperating-that cold that you can't kick off, overeating, chain smoking, drinking to sleep better-to downright illnesses and diseases-cancer, depression, hypertension, diabetes. Research shows that stress hormones are passed to the foetus in utero, thereby upping the risk of newborn babies having serious health issues, such as asthma and attention deficits.

The "fight or flight" response is programmed in our brain

If you've read other articles pertaining to psychosomatics, you know that when we meet a stressful situation or have been living under stress for a while, our adrenal glands release hormones-cortisol, adrenalin and noradrenalin-kicking up our "fight or flight" response, shutting down other functions such as sleep and immune response to metabolize energy on behalf of the body and to protect the organism from a perceived danger.

The body reveals the level of stress

These same hormones often become addictive so that someone might seek the rush that comes with it and will even create stress, often developing symptoms of depression when not stressed out.

The best gauge on whether or not there is too much stress in your life is your body. Excessive stress can cause a range of symptoms-anxiety, back pain, repeated colds, disruption in sleep pattern, insomnia, skin eruptions, migraine headaches, muscular pain and even eating disorders. These conditions should alert you that your organism is on overload. All these symptoms impact your ability to conduct your life and how you make your decisions. Over time, these conditions can wreck havoc on your bone structure, on your gastro-intestinal track, on your coronaries, on your nervous system, and on your immune system which can lead to serious diseases.

Our immune system does not exist in isolation from daily experience
Do not be fooled: even if medical textbooks take on an exclusively biological view of the body showing that dualism still colours beliefs on health and illness, our immune system does not exist in isolation from daily experience.

To read: When the Body Says NO: The Cost of Hidden Stress, Gabor Maté, Vintage Canada Edition, 2004.

Message from Lorraine Loranger Our fast-moving modern lives prevent us from following our natural rhythm. Based on hyperactivity, competition, and will, we hold in contempt our fatigue and stress. As we go beyond, producing efforts upon efforts, we buck up, we hang on, we persist and end up...exhausted. I have a philosophy for doing the work I do and the way I do it. Accounts of significant events in the life of the narrator have a plot, which is less often chronological and more often arranged according to a principle determined by the nature of the help the person needs. It is non-conventional: narration in the sense that it is used here deals with description, time, as well as context.  Thank you for your continuous support making sure education touches all your contacts.