Book Club :: Elizabeth Gilbert's, Big Magic Part Four - Persistence
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cover photo of big magic by elizabeth gilbert
For March 4th let's read Part V. Xx.
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5 Signs You Have Anxiety and Don't Know It
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I've written previously (here & here) about grief and sadness and being okay with not being okay, but I thought I'd share with you something I wasn't expecting at all from all of my emotional mayhem...
I became incredibly anxious.
When I say incredibly anxious I mean outstandingly so to the point of doing nothing but crying and wanting a cup of tea and my bed and my heart rate to slow down. It felt as if there was a weight in my stomach, a vise on my head, and my thoughts raced around unstructured and frustrated.
I'm telling you this because it's not uncommon. These feelings of overwhelm and stress have become second nature to society, a pseudo-desire of hard work and progress if you will.
I'm telling you that's bull****.
You can be successful, celebrated, and revered without stress or anxiety. It's not easy by any means, but it's worth putting in the effort.
Here are 5 things you might not know about how stress can affect your mind and body ...
1. You might be grinding your jaw or clenching it tightly.
When we are stressed, we tend to tense our muscles, like you would if someone were about to hit or punch you. That kind of tension is part of the natural fight or flight response. Tension caused by anxiety or stress is rarely relieved, meaning your entire body is in this constant clench. Cue sensitive teeth and painful chewing.
2. You might have stomach and intestine complications
The gang's all here in the form of indigestion, constipation, diarrhea, etc. Anxiety can make you feel jittery and high-strung, and while it's affecting your mental state and ability to breathe, it's making your belly just as jittery and high-strung, and it'll react by making you uncomfortably bloated or running to the bathroom every so often.
3. You might experience body aches like never before.
Like with excessive grinding of your jaw or clenching it tightly, the rest of your body is still doing that. It might feel like you've run a marathon or just done crossfit 10 times over even if you haven't left your bed. Your body is tightly wound at this point and making you aware of it all.
4. You might be sick more frequently.
When our bodies are on go-mode all of the time, our immune system cannot keep up. Most people suffering from anxiety or stress have difficulty sleeping or eating foods that boost their bodies health and these factors can wear down the body even more, making us susceptible to colds, flu and stomach bugs, and other germs our bodies would normally be capable of fighting off in good health.
5. You might have dull hair and skin or have more breakouts than before.
Stress and anxiety in our bodies release cortisol (the stress chemical, really). This can lead to an excess in oil production on our skin, so we can say helllooooo to breakouts. It can also lead hair to go into telogen phase where it is falling out easily. When we're not eating well or paying attention to our health, we're not getting the vitamins and nutrients our bodies need to survive and thrive.
How does that all relate to your life right now? Are you finding there are similarities? Differences? Variations on the theme? Making this post today, I was amazed at how one little word causes so much trauma in the body. But that list is no beuno!!!
Luckily, we have the control to turn anxiety around - most people think it lies in medicine and forgetting all about it (and for some that might work) - but almost always it comes with digging down to the deep, dark, root issues and spend a lot of time asking the hard questions: Why is this happening? What can I do? How is this affecting my life?
In other words, the winner of life (not that there is such a person) is not the most anxious who still manages to succeed. The winner is the person thriving without stress or anxiety and rocking a life of Great Vibes. You have the power to be the latter every single day.
It's time to tap into that power!
Cheers to Great Vibes!
Xx. Em
UP NEXT WEEK:: So I Have Anxiety, What Do I Do About It?
+ What is your experience with anxiety? Share in the comments below!
P.S. I don't know why the font is so small, babes! Technology, I swear ...
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