30 Days To The Abyss Day 5

Welcome back! Let's talk about stress. First off, here is what it says on WebMD.com . . . "Stress is what you feel when you have to handle more than you are used to. When you are stressed, your body responds as though you are in danger. It makes hormones that speed up your heart, make you breathe faster, and give you a burst of energy. This is called the fight-or-flight stress response.

Some stress is normal and even useful. Stress can help if you need to work hard or react quickly. For example, it can help you win a race or finish an important job on time.

But if stress happens too often or lasts too long, it can have bad effects. It can be linked to headaches, an upset stomach, back pain, and trouble sleeping. It can weaken your immune system, making it harder to fight off disease. If you already have a health problem, stress may make it worse. It can make you moody, tense, or depressed. Your relationships may suffer, and you may not do well at work or school."

Here's my take on stress put in my own words. Stress is inevitable in life. You either deal with it or it eats you away to nothing. There are 2 types of stress, distress and eustress. Distress is generally considered the bad stress. Eustress is generally considered the good stress. Both can be good and both can be bad. Too much of either can be destructive. For the sake of this blog entry, I'm going to refer to distress as stress for the remainder of the post. And bad stress is what I'm talking about here.

We've all experienced stress. As early as we can remember we've experienced it. Walking into a classroom for the first time. Being called on to answer a question in front of everybody without knowing the answer. And as we grew up it continued. Asking someone out for the first time. Taking an exam. Interviewing for a job. And sometimes it gets much worse. Finding out you're pregnant (and you didn't intend to be). Losing your job. Having a significant other face a debilitating disease. The list goes on. And life goes on. You have to be able to handle stress! How you handle stress can be just as destructive as the stress itself! Drugs, alcohol, destructive behavior (cutting, abusing others), or worse yet, doing absolutely nothing.

How you handle stress doesn't have to be destructive. You can find better ways to "blow off some steam". Personally, I don't really watch or read too much news. Just enough to be in the know but not enough to be depressed. I watch cartoons every night before I go to bed so I go to bed laughing. I crank the radio and sing at the top of my lungs when I drive. My photography was my passion and my videography is quickly becoming another. I carry a camera and a video camera with me everywhere I go! I shoot ever day! It brings me great joy when someone else appreciates my vision. I'm rekindling my joy of exercising. Who knows what else I'll experience in the days to come.

So, your homework is to sit back and see how the stones lay on the board. Why are you stressed? How are you dealing with it? And if you're not dealing with it or you're destructively dealing with it, how can you find better ways to deal with it.

Thanks for stopping by and see you tomorrow!