It seems that in this day in age, nearly all of us are living on high alert, high levels of stress, burning the candle at both ends. Are you able to recognize the signs of a nervous system that is constantly on high alert? What can you do about it and what are the possible ramifications if you do nothing. STRESS! Recognizing when your Nervous System is Dangerously Overactive
This is not a question of whether we are under stress, we are all under stress of varying nature, some good, some not so good. The concern is if we recover well, consistently….or if we live in a place of high alert, which is very detrimental to our body and mind. This article will not be about all the feels of an essential oil blend to help with stress, or an herbal tea to help you sleep…..but the nitty-gritty that so many of us are avoiding!
In a previous blog I talked in great detail about the sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic nervous system, you can read that here. Here I will just dive right in.
If your sympathetic nervous system is the primary system running the show, you can find yourself suffering from things like (not an all-inclusive list)
-Physically and mentally unable to sit and relax
-Anxiety (heart palpitations/increased BP, irritability, headaches, insomnia, startle easily)
-Acid reflux, stomach aches, poor digestion,
-Chronic muscle tightness and pain
-Increased skin rashes
-Lack of productivity, forgetfulness, hopelessness, apathy, worry, paranoia
-The sensation of a lump in your throat or increasing clearing of your throat (related to acid/GERD)
If we do not pay attention, the stress could lead to further issues such as:
-Endocrine imbalances (Thyroid, adrenal, pituitary glands)
-Heart Disease
-Stroke
-Cancer
Well now that I have been a complete Debbie Downer…..(my apologies….sending you all that are suffering good vibes and hugs),
Living in a constant state of high alert, from experience is beyond exhausting, it is soul-sucking.
What can we do about it? I can say it can include a hot bath and a good book, but this kind of situation goes WELL BEYOND the typical self-case that is recommended on social media memes and website blogs.
It requires a new way of thinking and living!
It requires living with complete self-awareness.
Where is your energy going? Do you give it away? Do you have stellar boundaries?
What is your self-talk like? Do you love yourself? Do you prove it to yourself in everything you do?
Toss the importance of the to-do list, and create a to be list. (Things will get done in their time, but release them as emergency items). Those that live in high alert tend to lose sight of the order/importance of things and treat everything with the same level of urgency.
And as clique as this sounds….do the work! What is the work you might be asking…
- Keep the promises you have made to yourself. You are numero uno, and if you break one promise you have made..you are more likely to break many more!
- Find the present moment and stay in it as much as you can throughout the day. There will, of course, be time for planning future items, but those that live in the what-if future world, are more likely to live in high alert.
- Address your baggage, your shit, your trauma, whatever you call it. Avoidance means avoiding the healing process, or the integration to your new and improved self. Ask for help if you need it, seek counseling, you deserve it!
- Lose the toxicity. If you are surrounded by people who bring you down, people who are always negative, those that are codependent, or even those that are narcissistic. You can walk away, or at the very least set time limits with those people if it is a co-parent, parent, etc.
- We often talk about the ego as a bad thing, saying ‘someone has a large ego’. I used to say someone had an ego the size of Texas, but later turned out to be a malignant narcissist, when led me on a deep journey of learning……your ego is an aspect of yourself to understand.
Ego: I failed
Your Highest Self:I learned an important lesson
Ego:I am not healing
Your Highest Self: Every day I am learning and growing through life lessons.
- As you take away the urgency of a to-do list, set a practice to sit and do nothing from time to time. Why is this so hard for so many of us? We do what we do, the constant onslaught of go-go-go, to avoid what is going on in our heads. To drown it out and be blissfully unaware. In order to do the work, we have to start being aware. Our health depends on it. (Keeping my kids on their toes wondering why I am sitting on the couch simple gazing outside is simply a bonus)
As you can see, there is much work to be done, but none of it requires heavy lifting, only self-love, and self-awareness to be present in every moment.
Engaging the parasympathetic nervous system in override the stress response (sympathetic nervous system) as much as possible will begin to settle you and your symptoms, but will not happen overnight.
Steps 1-6 will help, but we still need more.
One of my Mentor’s, Dr. Deb Kern years ago taught me that in order to begin to make real measurable shifts in life I needed to fill my days with things I loved as often as I could, and I needed to remember, write down, and reinforce my dreams.
Grab a pen and notebook, find a quiet spot, and open your mind. If you have an oil blend that welcomes focus and creativity you can place that in a diffuser. This blend, from my most recent book, ‘Emotional Healing with Essential Oils’ helps to clear the energy and encourage creativity:
Now, draw two columns, the first entitled ‘Pleasures’, the second ‘Desires’. Do not entertain hesitation here, if it pops into your head, write it down. Spend 15 minutes with this exercise. You will ultimately hit a lull……this is completely normal and if you sit with it and push through it, the ideas will continue to flow. What do you love to do? What are you good at? What brings you pleasure? Under desires, write down your life’s goals. What do you visualize for your life?
Once you have this clearly laid out on paper, determine how much of your days are spent doing what items under your pleasures list. Trust me, there is absolutely no judgment here if the percentage of your day doing the things you love is low. It is incredibly common, and it was quite a shock to me when I discovered I needed to make big changes.
Once I began to dedicate more of my time to what I love, I began to see I had more energy, I smiled a lot more often, and my creativity began to blossom, and well I had fewer hours being exhausted and feeling like crap!
Remember this is but once piece of a very large puzzle, but it is imperative to living a happy life. No one wants to wake up, go to work, come home, run errands, be a chauffeur, a chef, (insert all the hats you wear), plop in bed exhausted only to wake up and do it all over again. This is the definition of a recipe for exhaustion.
Everything I have shared today comes from firsthand experience. I have shared a few of my previous blogs below to help expand on this topic.
Click here for more of my story.
Sending you wishes for abundant health & happiness
Leslie xo
