Blog Dis
The damaging effects of stress
2024-09-12
I'm lucky to have an unusual variety of friends, some of whom had worked for decades in the healthcare industry, others in technical trades, and obviously some in the literary community. The variety of friends brings special elements to my life, but in particular my healthcare industry friends are fascinating individuals. I like to call them my part-time psychologists, part-time nutritionists and part-time spiritualists.
When you work in the healthcare industry, you have to maintain a balanced life, both mentally and physically, in order to effectively interact w/ the multitude of people and their multitude of physical problems. But of course, life isn't meant to be easy. Life lives up to its challenge, as I am often known to say to myself. And stress, the mother phucker of a component, is also a fact of life in coping with the problems of life.
This brings me to my first point about developing personal methodologies for coping with stress. You know exactly about which I speak. Some smoke cigarettes to alleviate stress, while others pour a glass of wine, some a bottle, many pop anti-depressants like M&Ms and countless others exercise their demons away, while some crawl into a world that is peppered and propped up by their children, living through their ups and downs. Regardless of what method you use, the component of stress will be a common defacto-standard. I don't care how intelligent you may regard yourself; how much money you've socked away; how powerful and well-connected your friends may be, each of us is not exempt from stress. I can assure you that I have my stress too and some times it comes from friends or family or health-related issues, but mostly it comes from work and having to deal with the bureaucracy, or having to deal with outside services related to my writing, such as hiring freelance writers who also edit on the side.
I know it's not reasonable to expect to live a life that is stress-free but I refuse to accept that I'm unable to carve out moments of peace. And then one learned friend pointed out to me that there is a difference. There is stress and then there is being in distress. One implies that a degree of stress is healthy for you but being 'in distress' means the four walls have closed in on you, such as how families must cope when they lose their home, and all their belongings because of a tornado or flood or fires. This level of disaster goes beyond stress, because it represents being in distress.
And this brings me to my second point, a little discovery I made thru the homeopathic wisdom of one friend who introduced me to Bach Flower Remedies, non-pharmacological, which is a big fancy word for non-medicinal. This friend explained that for persons who've recently endured a tumultuous break-up w/ a spouse or long-term partner, left a job or lost a job, that they'll be able to calm themselves by placing 4 to 6 drops of this remedy (a liquid tincture) on the tip of their tongue. So, me be a willing subject, I tried this remedy and made the mistake of taking it first thing in the morning, before heading out to work, thinking that it would help to alleviate the constant stress at work. I could barely keep my eyes open and nearly fell asleep, I was so groggy that I wanted to crawl under my desk and take a nap. I understand now that these drops should be taken just before bed, and if you wake up in the middle of the night, as many of us so often do, a few more drops and you'll nod off back to sleep. It works plenty of times, but not always; the goal remains the same, to wake up in morning, feeling rested and peaceful, in a better frame of mind that enables me to cope with the stress of the day.
The crux of the battle with stress is not being able to reduce the stress to the point that you can achieve a level of peace. Stress is a barrier to peace. And, once you've found your neutral space, you're in a better position to approach stress and its component-parts from a different perspective. OK, so maybe I dabble too much in chocolate as a way of coping with stress during the day, but taking a flower remedy at night is like discovering a way to tap into your dreams w/o having to attach electrodes to your skull.
I thanked my friend for having made this wonderful recommendation to me and then I made a snide remark about flowers and how could a tincture of essence of flowers have such a strong affect? My friend didn't answer, so I chimed in, "Maybe it has one drop of Dilaudid to take off the edge!" 🤣[Dilaudid, incidentally, for those who don't know, is a morphinan opioid, used to treat pain]. My friend wasn't amused with my sarcasm and assured there me that is zero dilaudid in Bach Flower Remedies... bcus if there were, well for sure it'd be a hit in the global market. Ha!
If a flower remedy works, then why the heck not? You find your crutch your way. I'll find mine my way.
When you work in the healthcare industry, you have to maintain a balanced life, both mentally and physically, in order to effectively interact w/ the multitude of people and their multitude of physical problems. But of course, life isn't meant to be easy. Life lives up to its challenge, as I am often known to say to myself. And stress, the mother phucker of a component, is also a fact of life in coping with the problems of life.
This brings me to my first point about developing personal methodologies for coping with stress. You know exactly about which I speak. Some smoke cigarettes to alleviate stress, while others pour a glass of wine, some a bottle, many pop anti-depressants like M&Ms and countless others exercise their demons away, while some crawl into a world that is peppered and propped up by their children, living through their ups and downs. Regardless of what method you use, the component of stress will be a common defacto-standard. I don't care how intelligent you may regard yourself; how much money you've socked away; how powerful and well-connected your friends may be, each of us is not exempt from stress. I can assure you that I have my stress too and some times it comes from friends or family or health-related issues, but mostly it comes from work and having to deal with the bureaucracy, or having to deal with outside services related to my writing, such as hiring freelance writers who also edit on the side.
I know it's not reasonable to expect to live a life that is stress-free but I refuse to accept that I'm unable to carve out moments of peace. And then one learned friend pointed out to me that there is a difference. There is stress and then there is being in distress. One implies that a degree of stress is healthy for you but being 'in distress' means the four walls have closed in on you, such as how families must cope when they lose their home, and all their belongings because of a tornado or flood or fires. This level of disaster goes beyond stress, because it represents being in distress.
And this brings me to my second point, a little discovery I made thru the homeopathic wisdom of one friend who introduced me to Bach Flower Remedies, non-pharmacological, which is a big fancy word for non-medicinal. This friend explained that for persons who've recently endured a tumultuous break-up w/ a spouse or long-term partner, left a job or lost a job, that they'll be able to calm themselves by placing 4 to 6 drops of this remedy (a liquid tincture) on the tip of their tongue. So, me be a willing subject, I tried this remedy and made the mistake of taking it first thing in the morning, before heading out to work, thinking that it would help to alleviate the constant stress at work. I could barely keep my eyes open and nearly fell asleep, I was so groggy that I wanted to crawl under my desk and take a nap. I understand now that these drops should be taken just before bed, and if you wake up in the middle of the night, as many of us so often do, a few more drops and you'll nod off back to sleep. It works plenty of times, but not always; the goal remains the same, to wake up in morning, feeling rested and peaceful, in a better frame of mind that enables me to cope with the stress of the day.
The crux of the battle with stress is not being able to reduce the stress to the point that you can achieve a level of peace. Stress is a barrier to peace. And, once you've found your neutral space, you're in a better position to approach stress and its component-parts from a different perspective. OK, so maybe I dabble too much in chocolate as a way of coping with stress during the day, but taking a flower remedy at night is like discovering a way to tap into your dreams w/o having to attach electrodes to your skull.
I thanked my friend for having made this wonderful recommendation to me and then I made a snide remark about flowers and how could a tincture of essence of flowers have such a strong affect? My friend didn't answer, so I chimed in, "Maybe it has one drop of Dilaudid to take off the edge!" 🤣[Dilaudid, incidentally, for those who don't know, is a morphinan opioid, used to treat pain]. My friend wasn't amused with my sarcasm and assured there me that is zero dilaudid in Bach Flower Remedies... bcus if there were, well for sure it'd be a hit in the global market. Ha!
If a flower remedy works, then why the heck not? You find your crutch your way. I'll find mine my way.
