In the midst of the holiday season, we'll hear tunes that tell us to have a holly jolly Christmas, sleigh rides with loved ones, and cups of "cheer" (don't do that last one). But the reality of this time of year is that it can be overwhelming compared to our typical daily grind. So today I'd like to bring to your attention:
STRESS
I bring this up because I was recently rediagnosed with a health condition that I worked really hard to clear out of my life during early recovery. The doctors involved identified the culprit behind this as stress, well, as a stress eater...it was stress and weight gain. Which I sum up to my bad habit of overfilling my mental plate, getting stressed out, and then overfilling my dinner plate. Don't forget the snacks. This has been piling up for me over the last few months, but the added stressors of the holiday season have brought it to a boil.
"Mental Status: In desperate need of a silent night" —Unknown
Now, this hasn't brought me to a relapse point, but it has backpedaled me in my health and wellness goals. Which has been disheartening, to say the least. it doesn't help when some of the people you love the most are also some of the best cookie makers you've ever met... You know who you are... but that's beside the point. What am I going to do now? Get down and depressed that I've lost ground in the wellness department? Ignore it and let it grow into an even bigger problem? I'm sure as hell not gonna grab a bottle. That's a four years ago Mitchell move.
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Sitting in the negative or avoiding things like this is what drove my poor mental health down to the point of self-medicating years ago. That almost killed me, and even though I seemingly like to stress myself out these days, I actually enjoy being alive today.
So this past weekend I formulated a plan. I dipped into my self-aware bag of coping mechanism tricks, like Santa's bag of presents, and started listening to soothing music when the boilover starts. I started using that gym membership I was ignoring like a new treadmill a month after New Year's, I put some boundaries up with people causing said stress and made plans to spend time with people that make my life a little less stressful. Generally just doing things to fill my cup, instead of emptying it. No more avoiding the uncomfortable and letting the stress run my life.
I appreciate you spending time reading my blog today. If you have any questions or are looking for someone to talk to about the stress you have in your life drop me a line here mitchell@217recovery.com. But it's time for me to call it a day and go take a stress-reducing drive to see some Christmas lights.
Until next time.
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