My life is so freaking perfect. So why do I sometimes feel stress? It’s not a lot of stress, but it is enough to affect me physically and harsh my groove. I want to get to the bottom of why I stress when I do not need to and what, therefore, I need to do about it.
Reasons People Experience Stress
Sometimes people experience stress because they have real problems. Financial problems, illness, family arguments, unhappy or unhealthy relationships, addiction, war, famine, violence, abuse, etc. in other words, something about your self, others, or your situation is unpleasant and unhealthy and you don’t currently know what the path out looks like or the path is new and untested (for you).
When you start taking action and you see that the path is manageable, the stress often disappears.
I do not have real problems.
Beyond these real problems, are the more moderate ones. You might experience stress because:
- You fear something
- You fear losing your job
- You fear the passing of someone you love
- You fear social disapproval or what people think
- You fear that your current definition of self is in jeopardy
- You fear that you are not a good parent
- You fear that something bad will happen to someone you love
- Your task list is stressing you out
- Your time and attention have become a public bathroom
- You have too many of your own tasks taking up your attention (as opposed to other people’s requests for your time)
- You have a single large, multifaceted task with a clear and near term deadline
- You have placed an unreasonable expectation on yourself and tied it to your self esteem.
- There is chaos in your home or other spaces.
- You are conditioned to stress. Being stressed gets you something… more attention and caring, more gifts and doting, etc.
- Stress makes you feel important or like you must be doing important things.
- You are not meeting your needs
- You are not getting the right foods, or too much of something
- You are not getting enough sleep or exercise or sex
- You are getting enough solitude or time for regeneration
- You are not taking action toward your goals
- You are wallowing in past experiences
- You are worried about the future
- You have a big decision to make and are struggling with the choice.
- You are reading too much social media or news instead of actually talking to people
- You are in Stage Three through Stage Six
- You are sabotaging yourself
- You need a break
- You are within a month of releasing a creative work (book, art piece, film, album, etc)
- Things have happened very quickly recently and you need time to process it all.
- You are in denial about something and your soul is trying to make you acknowledge it.
What do I need to BE right now?
- In the moment
- Flowing
- Trusting my river
- Breathing
- Thankful
