Do we really know when we are stressed or do we wait for the body to get ailments, the mind to become foggy and the inner spirit to fade?
For me, it is only when these things happen that I take notice. The skill is to notice the signs before you slow down to a standstill. Considering the week I have just had, where board meetings prevailed and deadlines screamed at me, I am lucky enough to have found the strength to still get to yoga and attend a mindfulness course; at the latter, I nearly lapsed into a deep nap in my chair instead of hovering in a muted but present state of mind.
Here are a few signs from the past week that should have made me wake-up to the excess cortisol:
💡 feeding the cats the wrong food – I fed them rabbit food for breakfast
💡 wearing an outfit to work that is a sign of a wardrobe meltdown. Baggy animal print pants do not work on a vegan
💡paying for my parking ticket at the self-service parking machine but forgetting to take the ticket afterwards
💡 vivid dreams, such as dreaming that I was introduced to a daughter I never knew I had and discovering that whilst she had blue eyes, one was deformed so badly it resembled a blue peppercorn in her eye socket, or dreaming that I asked my husband to get eye lashes for my Mini
💡at work, losing the power to speak animatedly in English and switching to fluent and poetic Afrikaans
💡 at yoga classes, battling to remember the Sanskrit names of the poses and confusion over whether I must be upside down on my head or balancing on one leg
💡 getting ready for work on Friday, I put my eyelid make-up on under my eyes
💡 pains in my torso that are so debilitating that I need not just a hot water bottle for my pains, but need Arnica Ice rubbed on my back. Just to note, Arnica Ice is a gel prescribed by vets for horses!
I am happy to say I survived the week and albeit I looked like I had been dragged through a bush backwards on some days, I can stop the madness of stress. My weekend is about resting, reading, ignoring The Donald, forgetting that we live in a country where the president could push the destruct button again, thinking about the effects of Brexit on my UK passport, wondering why I bought over 30 Easter eggs, and whether my Mini (with beautiful new Union Jack wing mirror covers) will ever get repaired. Signing-off as a far more relaxed person and one who has seen the light at the end of the rabbit tunnel.
