Day 58: Too Much Stress

Stress is an incredibly active pressure in our lives, all of us have experienced it at some point. It is unavoidable, however, it is also manageable. Life is not a race that needs to be lived at breakneck speed, the more we pile things into our days the more we feel the stress. It is a vicious cycle of wanting to do more and needing to do less.

Recently I feel as if I have been rushing through life at the fastest pace I could possibly obtain. It has gone on for far longer than I am proud of and the stress it has piled onto my life is incredibly. This week alone my face has broken out, I've had a three nose bleeds, and I found a couple grey hairs all because of the stress I am under. And for an eighteen year old, these side effects are relatively concerning.

Honestly, I do not have the perfect solution to a stress free life that I am able to share with you for this blog post. It was only today that I found and freaked out about a grey hair. Yet I know I can remove some of the stress that comes mainly from overthinking. The first step of course is admitting to being stressed.

Before you can fix any problem, you have to first be able to admit to the fact that you have a problem. I realize that the level of stress I am experiencing is far too high and blown out of proportion. Since I have come to terms with that I can begin working on a way to remove some of that stress.

The best thing I have found to do when feeling this way is stepping away from the stressor. For me, it has been school. So today I stepped away from it for most of the day. I went and had coffee with a friend, went shopping with my mom (goodwill is the best stress reliever), talked with another friend on the phone, and spent some time organizing and decorating my room. The level of stress I am in today is lower than it has been for weeks.

Stepping away can be a hard thing to do, especially when you're worried about deadlines or wasting time. However, when you come back to the task that is causing the most stress it is amazing how clear your mind can suddenly feel.

Life is not supposed to be filled to the brim with so much stress it's triggering physical reactions. We should be enjoying our lives. Come to terms with you personal stress and work towards finding a way to step away from it. It will be a journey we have to embark upon every day, however, remember that you control your stress not the other way around.

Until Next Time,
Lillian Merritt