I stand like an adrenalin junkie on the edge of a calculated risk, ready to fall to heightened depths. Nerve impulses are moving through my body’s haggard network. As far as they travel, the impulses are continually regenerating. There’s nothing … absolutely nothing wrong with me.
A physical check up has determined that my organs are functioning well. Yet, my energy is low.
I’m tired. No … it’s more than that. I’m at the point where I can’t sit and do what I have to do for one second longer. The voices and movement around me have me restless, thinking: “I’ve got to get out of here!” And all the while palpitations, dizziness and pain address me: something’s wrong.
The wan feeling doesn’t subside. I stumble into the bedroom and collapse on my bed. The pain is unforgivable. It has my head gripped in a vice that puts nausea in the foreground. My body is demanding sleep. Now, I’m a push over. I usually succumb to this kind of thing. So, I sleep stresser.
I know that I take a regular dosage of the slowest poison that drips on earth. It is administered in prescribed amounts over a period of twenty-four hours every day. Stress slowly infiltrates my pores and leaves its sticky and deadly residue within my veins.
I think of the drug junkie … then I realize I’m caught in a web and I seriously need help. Now, tell me: “Where would I find Stressers Anonymous?” or is there another name? Perhaps the acronym TOSO (Tired, Overworked and Stressed Out) is the accepted jargon for stressers.
Is this another day away from work? It seems ideal. It could be therapeutic. Yet, there’s that little voice inside my head that’s badgering the equilibrium of the harmonic sounds I actually prefer to hear. Dissonance and discord!
That’s it! I am at the end of a tether of guilt. I remind myself of all the important work that I’m missing – and it’s always important, hear – only to end up thinking about the enormous backlog with which I will have to deal – and it’s always enormous. What is this connection between stress and hyperbolic thoughts?
Therapeutic? I think not. And I go to work.
Stress infiltrates the maze of my mind. It’s caught in the intricate and confusing networks inside my head. And as the various symptoms of the disease harm my system, I seek medication to counteract the effects.
I remember the words: I am the master of my fate, the captain of my soul. What does Henry David Thoreau want me to understand: I captain my soul and I master my fate?
My motto in life has never been healthy. I should have considered a healthier approach: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Yet, how many people work at prevention?
In the end true physical well-being lies in my own hands. No-one else can achieve the ultimate for me. If I want to feel healthy, I need to deal with stress. The first step is to perhaps change my lifestyle.
The following four tips are found in most health magazines and -portals when stress is the topic. So, I start here:
1. Healthy eating habits.
2. Regular exercise.
3. Enough rest.
4. Good mental and emotional habits.
And just once in a while … a good weekend getting away from it all.
