Stress and Reconciliation

Reconciliation and STRESS

 

https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/can-stress-kill-you

 

Do you know that STRESS can kill you?  Well - not quite - but “This response doesn’t directly result in death, but it can have serious health consequences over a length of time.”

 

The article suggests there are both good stress and bad stress.  For example, “Similarly, a 2013 animal study found a short-term, moderate level of stress improved memory and increased alertness and performance in rats.”  (hmmm - so the “rat-race’ can be beneficial to humans?)

 

BUT “But long-term — also known as chronic — stress doesn’t have the same motivational effects.

“Cortisol gets toxic in high doses over a chronic period of time,” Celan explains, adding that this is what leads to serious health issues.

 

So, the problem is long-term stress.  From the article:

“But “over time, stress can cause damage that leads to premature death,” Celan says.

This damage can be anything from cardiovascular issues to encouraging unhealthy habits, like smoking and alcohol misuse. “You could live longer if you had less stress in your life,” Celan says. “That’s why taking control of your stress is important.”

 

*****

In the past few days, I’ve written about reconciliation.  Moving just a little, I’d like to talk a bit about stress.

 

In the year after I retired, I allowed stress to grow.  I look back and see three stress factors.  And I made three loaming, dark ‘MOUNTAINS out of those three molehills.  I agonized about the issues.  Yes, they really weren’t big deals in the scheme of things, but I latched onto them like a child latches on to a toy -and screams “MINE”.  These things became “MINE”.  And, yet all three were outside of my control.  As you know, we can control who we are (or as Romans 12:2 says “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind”).  

 

So, I reasoned “Why did that happen?” “What should I have done differently?”

 

I was getting dizzy when I stood up.  I would have to grab my chair and let the dizziness go away.  (Vertigo).  As the article suggests, long-term stress can lead to back pain, headaches, and even chest pain.  In my case, it also led to high blood pressure. (That is if you consider 213 over 161 with a pulse of 165 as high blood pressure - when ‘normal’ is supposed to be about 120 over 80).  

 

That blood pressure was like a high-pressure firehose in my aorta - where the blood was eating new blood carrying channels.  Like a river with meandering, flows can cut a new channel during a flood, my pressure was cutting new channels.

 

And - boom - a major health issue, a major surgery - and major changes in my life.

 

Ultimately, those major changes alienated my family  - and that is one of my reasons to look for reconciliation.

 

Separation from things we love can also be a stressor.  We are currently in isolation and separated from our work, our activities, our families, our friends - and our ‘normal’ lives.  And this stress can be hard on us.

 

The statement “like water off a duck’s back” seems to fit (at least to me).  I had to learn to let it go (or let go of my health).  That might be one reason to not have a television set in my apartment, I don’t need the stress of the news - and the forecast of doom and gloom. 

 

I try not to let things that stress me get to me.  My familiar mantra of “GIGO” - garbage in, garbage out, seems to fit here.  While I don’t subscribe to “Ignorance is bliss”, in this case, the less I know about the virus, the less I know about the predictions, the less I know from 87 different experts - may be the better.

 

Will our new - post-COVID-19 world - be different?  Probably!  Do I need to worry about it?  Not really.  The serenity prayer works well for me here:

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

 

Is the virus getting to you?  Is being cooped up at home for long periods of time affecting your health?  Is it time to “let it go”?

 

Hugs!!

 

Karen