Creating Pressure and Adrenal Overload

I was indulging in one of my guilty pleasures the other day watching a re-run of “Little House on the Prairie”.   Pa Ingalls had been delayed returning home from a trip and of course the family had no means of knowing where he was or if he was OK.  Nowadays of course we all have mobile phones, internet, laptops, i-pads, Skype, email, messaging and so on, and keeping in touch (should we choose to do so) is easy and instant.  

It reminded me of a time when I was giving a lift to one of my students en-route to a kinesiology course and about 5 minutes into the journey she realised she had left her mobile phone at home.   Of course I offered to turn around but she shrugged in a very Gaelic fashion (being French..!) and just said, “oh well, if anyone wants me they’ll realise I’m not available” and settled down to enjoy the journey.   I, on the other hand stressed about it – on her behalf – worrying whether her daughter would need her, whether there may be some emergency she couldn’t respond to or that she wouldn’t be able to contact anyone because no doubt she wouldn’t remember their number as everything is now on speed dial so couldn’t even borrow someone elses..!!!!    All this on her behalf and she wasn’t even the remotest bit bothered…

It got me thinking about the constant stress we put ourselves under -  I am of course always able to offer advice to my clients and make suggestions to help them deal with THEIR stress – but dealing with our (my..!) own is another matter and I started to observe some very unwelcome habits and traits I have been slowly developing in myself.

• Having the luxury of a hard drive DVD means we can record 2 programmes while watching another.  We do tend to plan our TV watching which I guess is “good” and don’t mindlessly just sit watching anything.   However, me – being the impatient type – then gets used to fast forwarding my programmes on DVD  -  leaping through adverts, speeding up slow speakers, flitting to and fro to “get to the end” as quickly as possible, which means I then get impatient with "real time" TV.  
• Keeping an eye on my emails on my phone when I’m out – and I don’t just mean every hour or so -  I had started to be checking much more frequently than that (embarrassed to say how often.!) – suffice it to say that it was becoming obsessive.  I don’t’ think I’m alone in this.
• Facebook – ah yes Facebook.  Yes I find it marvellous as a self-employed person, great for business and great for keeping in touch as  working alone can become quite solitary.    But is it REALLY necessary to try and read EVERY post ever posted..!  I am exaggerating but it is astonishing how overwhelming all the group participation and business pages can become.  There's a great video doing the rounds at the moment about the loneliness of social media - and it really pulls no punches.
  
• Ditto Twitter
• Never doing just one thing.  So when watching TV, I’d be flicking through a magazine, looking online, checking the dreaded phone, etc etc.  In fact just not being mindful
• This leads on to eating/drinking – terrible habits are easily formed with “working lunches” and TV dinners.
• Constantly thinking about “the next thing” rather than savouring what is actually happening right now.

So noticing is one thing – doing something about it quite something else….. Individually all these little annoyances shouldn’t be a problem but collectively – and added to other stressors – can lead to adrenal burnout.  I know from experience from my Corporate days that being the type of personality I am – always wanting to get the job done, being really conscientious, hating backlogs of emails, having high standards - leaves me very susceptible.  

For that reason and in kinesiology MCPE terms:

Emotional:   I have a stock of bach remedies to hand – Elm for overwhelm and Rock Water.  I also use affirmations and change them regularly depending on what’s going on.  It’s important to use affirmations regularly and catch yourself thinking negatively and reframing it there and then rather than making a big ritual at a defined time each day.

Chemical:  B complex and vitamin C every day.

Physical:  This is what I find hardest but I aim for swimming 3 times a week – the reason it’s hard is because I always put work and clients first and this doesn’t always accord with public swim times.  I do take time out for Mini Meditations too – nothing fancy just stopping and breathing and concentrating on slow deep breath. Also, being self employed and lucky to live in a beautiful area means we can take time out for walks - in the country or by the sea.

Energetic:   Water, turn wi-fi off when not using, ensure mobile phone and laptop have energy shields on them.  These come in a variety of forms and are now readily available.

This, on the whole, keeps me balanced – I do also have regular kinesiology sessions or reflexology swaps which is essential for my own wellbeing.   Additionally, in light of the above creeping bad habits, I have started setting aside time where I block out of my diary some time where I don’t think about work, clients, marketing, at all and all electronic equipment is turned off ….    Hard to start with but it does get easier and is wonderfully refreshing and liberating as you get used to it.  My aim is to see if I can have a graduatingly longer period of time with NO electronic communication devices.... (work in progress..!!)