We can't prevent stressful situations from barging into our lives, but we can certainly control how we react to them. It sounds easier said than done, and it truly is. Saying it is one thing, and being able to dominate the art of self-control is another. The mastership lies in becoming beings of action and not of reactions.
Stress can either boost or suppress the immune system. Short periods of stress can actually be beneficial for our body, increasing the production of new immune cells. However, long periods of stress can increase inflammation, reduce your white blood cell (lymphocyte) count, and disrupt the gut microbiome, linked to the high levels of the stress hormone cortisol.
Since most of our immune system lives in our gut microbiome, altering it could make us more vulnerable to infections and less capable of fighting them. A clean, healthier diet could calm down your immune system, including foods high in nutrients that improve brain health.
We must learn to identify those triggers and find ways to relax and calm ourselves when amid stressful situations. Deep breathing, meditating and practicing mindfulness are some helpful techniques that work for me. Also, my favorite one, listening to music, really helps me distract my mind and consequently relax.
Life in general can be stressful. Work, kids, ailments, and comorbidities – they all take a toll on our mental state, creating an imbalance that can be hard to navigate. Quirky multiple sclerosis by itself and its perks – like depression, brain fog, and fatigue – put us through constant tension, making our hair stand on end.
Let’s face it, our nervous system is already on edge. MS is moody and bad-tempered. And at times it can go haywire and get angry. Adding to the pressures of living with it, when things go wrong and we lose our cool, it puts us at risk of being more symptomatic and feeling worse.
I’d say that this is the biggest challenge we face with MS. It’s just too much to deal with! And then, on top of everything, we should stay calm and collected, like we’re made out of concrete, just so we don’t feel worse. That doesn’t even make sense. It’s unfair, I know. Like a good friend of mine says, “MS ain’t cool.”
Now, for me, it’s been a hell of a ride. I’ve had to do a lot of inner work learning to control my temper and my fiery personality. In the past, I could go from zero to 100 in less than 60 seconds. Honestly, I feel like I fail at this too often, but I’ve learned that healing is a lifetime journey.
“We get sick to heal from who we are not” – Have you heard that before? Quite profound, isn’t it? Sometimes we don’t understand why certain things happen to us. Especially, why do we have to live with multiple sclerosis and watch it change the course of our life?
So, how can we better manage stress? I’ve incorporated some helpful strategies, like for example walking away from stressful situations before they get to me, revisiting complex problems later when I’m calmed and focused, avoiding or completely removing toxic people from my life that only bring negativity, and showing myself grace not being so hard on me.
There are some popular strategies used in managing stress like practicing yoga, deep breathing exercises, improving eating habits, maintaining a healthy sleep hygiene, etc. But I’d say, based on my own experience, that as long as we allow ourselves to be in full control of our emotions with intention, even as we feel them and process them, we’ll be more successful at it.
Naming my emotions helps me to rationalize what I’m feeling. This allows me to be more objective and not so sentimental when I’m working through them, without sabotaging the process with negative thoughts of defeat. I do the following exercise every time I feel stuck or like I can’t move on.
I ask myself, “What are you feeling?” l feel anger. Anger is the name of my emotion. “What caused this anger?” Right here, I clearly identify the cause of my anger. Now, I’m ready to detachedly analyze all the facts, reasoning and not feeling.
It sounds like a lot of mental work and maybe a little bit crazy, but by separating my thoughts from my emotions, it gives me the space I need to dissect my temporary psychological state, just like a therapist would do, helping me to understand the whys, and maybe even realizing that I might have overreacted, stressing myself over something not so important.
I’ve had to learn to be bigger than my circumstances and my environment to reach an internal transformation that not only has changed my viewpoint toward life but, has opened my eyes and my senses to new experiences, which in turn have brought new emotions that have translated into a new in control mindset where my energy vibrates at a higher frequency.
WOW! What does that all philosophical “stuff” mean? I’ll explain. A higher vibrational frequency allows you to be in control of your analytical mind, and thus your thoughts and feelings. The effect on your physical body and its benefits are undeniable.
When feeling happy, loved, secure, and joyful, your body secretes what they call the “happy hormones” – dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, endorphins, progesterone, adrenaline – in a natural response to those pleasant emotions, enhancing your mood and reducing your stress levels.
When you live in stress, you live in survival mode. Being under the gun constantly can only deteriorate you more and more. Controlling your thoughts leads to new choices, new behaviors. If you think it, you can do it, and ultimately you will be. It’s up to you to fill in the blank of what you will be.
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