Stressed???? Put the Ashwagandha Down Now

Raise your hand if you own the following:

• 17 journals/planners
   
• Multiple meditation and/or yoga apps on your phone
   
• Half-empty bottles of ashwagandha or magnesium
   
• Stress balls, meditation cushions, etc……

Me too!

It’s so normal to want to BUY something that will FIX your STRESS.

But stress is an emotion. It’s a feeling. It’s not a disease, a wart, or even a situation. It’s a feeling.

And if it’s a feeling, it’s tied into your thoughts. Yes, the life circumstances matter, including your job, your family, your finances, and all the things that make up your days. But also, how you think about these circumstances matters, how you think about saying “yes” or “no,” how you feel about your responsibilities and challenges matters.

So in order to help the feeling of stress, we need to change the thoughts. That *might* involve changing the circumstances (and saying “no” more for example….), but also the way you think.

Here’s an example:

What do you feel when you have the following thoughts?

I’m so busy
I have so much to do
No one will help me
No one is helping me
No one else will do this right

I know what I feel when I read those….STRESSED!

Let’s contrast that here:

There are a lot of things on my calendar
I will need to find some help to finish these
I wonder what I can get off my plate
Some of these will not get done (or not be me)

Now, I won’t pretend that we magic wand stress away. But when we develop awareness of how our thoughts create our feelings, we start to be able to see that there are other options; other thoughts, other choices, other responses.

And THAT is power.

Tune into this week’s podcast episode from 09/24/24 (Episode 142 Stress Isn’t What You Think it Is) to hear more on stress and what to do about it (including WHEN to intervene for yourself). Search for Ending Physician Overwhelm in your favorite podcast player and be sure to subscribe, or find the episode here.