Have you ever experienced a stressful event but couldn't quite react the way you wanted? For example, being in a meeting at work and feeling triggered by a comment, but because you're in front of colleagues, you had to play cool. Or having a mental breakdown before you left the house...triggered by the fact that you hated your outfit. Because you had to be somewhere, you were forced to suppress your emotions not fully processing them.
We experience stress every single day, and that isn't a bad thing - but not allowing yourself to feel, release, and move through the stress can cause emotions to get stuck. This pattern - being stuck in the stress cycle, is the number 1 thing that contributes to your burnout.
Emotions are energy in motion. And stress is stuck emotion. So how can we complete the stress cycle?
Think of emotions like a train going through a tunnel. If the train gets through the tunnel, it sees the light at the end. Allowing yourself to get through your tunnel of emotions, is how you can complete the stress cycle.
Physiologically, we know how to move through the stress cycle - it's automatically programmed in our DNA. Our bodies kick into survival mode for a short amount of time and get back to our regular baseline when we don't feel threatened anymore.
When we don't process our emotions, our body stays in survival mode, feeling constantly threatened. This is where chronic disease, high blood pressure, and anxiety come from, and these are just a few common signs of stress...the list goes on.
The solution? There are plenty of ways to deal with stress in a healthy way. But the most effective way is through physical movement. Speak your body's language and communicate the way she understands. Biologically, exercise gives the body a chance to practice dealing with stress. Exercise initially spikes the stress response, but in the end, shows your body that it is a safe place to live.
At the end of the day, stress isn't bad for you. But being stuck in the stress cycle is. If exercise isn't your thing, maybe try going for a walk, deep breathing, or journaling out your feelings. Play and experiment with what feels good for you. Not every day will be the same so having a toolkit of stress relief strategies at your fingertips, can support you in completing the stress cycle on a daily basis.
The fact that you are reading this post means you are growing and aware that stress has an impact on you - well done! Awareness is the first step in any healing journey. If you thought this was useful, feel free to share it with your network, a friend, or a loved one to support them through a stressful time.
Thanks for reading!
Emily J