Stress and Poor Habits
Stress is like having a guest in your home that never leaves. You take holidays to leave the guest behind, but somehow, the mere thought of home brings back just how stressful your life has become. And because you carry it in your body as well as in your mind, that guest will still be there when you get back.
Together, we’ll look compassionately at choices, at values, at where and how we can reduce the load on your mind, body and spirit. We’ll use mindfulness to find calm, and you’ll get tools and techniques to help you everyday you choose to use them.
A bit of stress in life helps us grow, because growth is found outside of our comfort zone. I moved from my home country of Australia to the US in 1988 and it was a very exciting, and yet stressful time for me, because I was so cut off from my large family (we wrote actual letters because we couldn’t afford the international phone bill) that I developed Irritable Bowel Syndrome. I was a long way outside my comfort zone: newly married, and yet alone in a foreign country while my husband went to work. That IBS stayed with me for around 15 years and while now is barely noticeable, it still requires management, albeit very minor.
Is your stress costing you sleepless nights? Causing clenched jaws and/or teeth grinding, poor food choices, growling or unhappy intestines, headaches? Whatever it is, it’s stealing our peace of mind. And that needs a shift in your relationship to stress.
Sometimes our behaviours contribute to our stress: our habits can steal even our downtime peace, yet we may actually interpret them as necessary to achieve that moment of peace. We handicap ourselves by doing things like scrolling endlessly on social media, smoking, persistent alcohol/drug consumption, staying up too late and then having sleep and energy problems the next day/week/month, overspending of time and money, and numerous other distractions. And then there’s the fear of what will happen if we stop doing these (detrimental) things! The lack of kindness we show to ourselves comes in many guises. The permission we give ourselves to let it all happen is something else.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Medical advice should always be your first port of call. Clarity around your symptoms is important, and I do not replace your doctor. I can, however, add a complementary stream of self-care.
Frequently Asked Questions.
I haven’t seen my doctor, because I think it’s just stress around my job. Can I just come straight to you for therapy?
Stress can create illness in the body and I am not medically trained. I cannot express enough that anyone experiencing debilitating symptoms of stress should first seek medical care. I provide a complementary form of addressing your relationship to what you are experiencing in your daily life. Doctor first, please.
I can’t change my life, but it’s so stressful, can you help me?
Yes. I understand perhaps you’re caring for someone, and your schedule is already largely claimed, so we have tools that you can use whenever and wherever you need.
I’m a smoker and I love to smoke, I don’t want to stop. Can you help with my stress levels?
Yes. If, however, you are unhappy with your life as it is, are you prepared to make changes to your story?