What’s your favorite ways to deal with stress? Would you be willing to share them? What about those times when you’re way more stressed out than you realize until your body starts letting you know with pain?
I think that’s exactly what happened to me. I wrote recently about how the multifocal PVCs that first developed during benzo withdrawal and detox have come back. At first I couldn’t figure out why. After all, I’m happier today than I’ve ever been in my life. So why are they back??
But happiness doesn’t make anybody immune to stress. The last month has been one of the busiest times my wife and I have had in years. We moved into our new home, a dream we’ve been looking forward to for a long time. But this house has come with more surprises than we expected.
The biggest was the roof. We thought only one section needed to be repaired where it had been leaking bad enough that part of the ceiling was close to collapsing. But we ended up having to replace the entire roof. What was supposed to be a two day job stretched into four and we’re still waiting for our solar panels to be put back up.
On top of that, we’ve learned we need plumbing work in two parts of the house along with a completely new water softening and filtration system. It feels like we’ve been hemorrhaging money since the day we moved in here.
Then last night we had one of the biggest thunderstorms I’ve seen in a while here in New Mexico. Maybe storms like that are common place here in Bernalillo, we’ve only lived here about a month, but they certainly weren’t where we lived before around New Mexico.
As the thunder rolled and the rain poured down I noticed a headache coming on. My shoulders were tight and my jaw was clenched tight. I caught myself getting up more than once just to check whether the roof was leaking again.
It wasn’t leaking but that was my “aha” moment. I realized just how much stress I’ve been carrying without really knowing it. The stress wasn’t just affecting my thinking. It’s been affecting my sleep, bringing back old nightmares, messing with my appetite, giving me tension headaches, and I really think it may even be the cause of those PVCs coming back.
I went and sat in meditation. As I sat there it became obvious that the stress hadn’t started with the storm. It’s been building up for weeks now… the whole process of buying the house, packing, moving, unpacking, arranging everything, the expensive problems we hadn’t been told about, scheduling repairs, and watching the bills just pile up.
I’d also been rushing through my Tai Chi and qigong practices. Some days I skipped them completely because I felt too busy. Even when I did practice I was mostly just going through the motions. I guess I’d forgotten that these practices aren’t just things to cross off a to do list. They’re part of how I take care of myself.
I also noticed that my breathing has been shallow. It’s amazing how fast shallow breathing can make your nervous system think you’re in danger even when you’re perfectly safe. So I decided something has to change. No matter how busy things get I’m going to make time to slow down.
I’m going to practice Tai Chi and qigong with my full attention instead of rushing through them. I’ll spend more time in both standing and seated meditation. I’m going to stop relying on fast food just because it’s convenient and hopefully my sleep will start to get better again too.
There’s an old saying I like that goes, “Meditate for twenty minutes every day unless you’re too busy. Then you should meditate for an hour.” It’s kind of a joke but not a joke, but there’s a lot of wisdom hidden in it. Life will always find ways to get hectic. Houses need repairs. Bills come. Unexpected problems show up. The world gives us plenty of things to worry about.
That’s exactly why we have to make time to care for our minds and our bodies and our spirits. So now I’d really like to hear from you on this. When life gets a little overwhelming what helps you find your way back to peace? What’s your failsafe practice, the thing that quiets your mind and reminds you to breathe again?
Amituofo
~Buck
Photo Credit: Ty Britt
Leave a Reply