I caught up with a good friend at Starbucks today. She was sharing what a stressful few months it has been. She’s getting married in June and while it’s super exciting, it has also meant wedding planning stress, on top of work stress, on top of family stress. All of it led to her skipping exercise, an outlet that has always been emotionally grounding for her.
In chatting with another stay-at-home mom friend, who’s getting ready to graduate with her PhD, she discussed the long, arduous journey of dissertation. For her, it’s been months of dissertation stress, on top of mom to small children stress, on top of general life stress. Her go-to way to deal has been emotional eating. Specifically, she’s a sucker for anything fruity and gummy. It’s delicious. Who can blame her?
Then, of course, there’s me. I almost always maintain a baseline of career stress. Then, when you add health stress, on top of relational stress, on top of state-of-the-world stress, it’s easy for that glass of wine to turn into two or sometimes even three.
What do all of us have in common? When life gets real (as it always does), our self-care diminishes. We turn to quick fixes to soothe and numb rather than manage what troubles our soul in healthy ways. It’s not a personal judgment; simply an observation.
The reality is that when stress increases self-care should increase. How often is that the case though? How often do we just turn to vices and go-to comforts rather than really dealing with the heart of the matter?
How many of you can relate to these scenarios? If you can, what might you change to move toward true wellness and wholeness?
It all begins by assessing where you are. It begins with a vitals check.