~Plato~(2000+ years ago)
“Nothing in the affairs of men is worthy of great anxiety.”
*Don’t sweat the small shit!*
I used to carry around so much worry, stress and anxiety, that I now believe was the cause for a symptom that had many doctors baffled and confused. I used to get a form of a rash, that was finally diagnosed to closely relate to the cold sore virus. Herpes simplex virus (HSV-1). I have gotten cold sore’s, on my lips, for as long as I can remember, during high school they were worse. I went through a very stressful time in my life where all of a sudden I had a huge break out of cold sore on my lips, which spread to my gums and tongue, arms, hands and fingers. Stomach area, genitals, legs and feet. My fingers would swell like sausages and I could not even use them. Angry red bumps all over the place that were sore and itchy. That’s all the details that I care to share, lets just say it was a very painful and annoying. After the first time, (which happened during a huge transitional period in my life in my late teens), this outbreak would happen two maybe three times a year, I could usually pin it to changing of a season and climate, and to after a time of anxiety and stress.
I used to have anxieties and stress, all the time, about stuff that I don’t even know why I even thought about it, but it usually had some form of indirect contact with myself, or it didn’t, and I could make myself believe that it did. And in the end, my worst thoughts never happened, or if they did, I still lived through it, Learned from it and gained new experiences. Don’t get me wrong!! I still stress and have anxiety, and wow, sometimes I can not believe that I would spend even minutes stressing about certain things, let alone hours, days and even weeks. I believe that I have, to some extent, learned how to control the degree at which I allow my thoughts to stress, and build into anxiety, and to remain fixated on certain elements that present themselves in my daily life.
Stress can cause so many other areas of concern, mainly anxieties and depression, just to name a couple. Stress can affect our thoughts, actions, moods, physical and mental health. The stress that we deal with everyday, that we allow¹, into our thoughts, not only affects us, but also those around us. Think about that, my stress affects my moods, actions and reactions and my health, but it can also cause some one else’s stress. This does not make me feel very good.
¹We allow certain thoughts to propagate in our mind, a lot of times with out even realizing it. They start unconsciously, a thought formed from an opinion, or a belief that we have, and then at random times, they float through our conscious thoughts. Becoming, at times, an irritant for our moral ego to feel vulnerable, causing unprecedented thoughts that increase severity of the outcome of the situation.
There is much available to help one deal with and to cope with stress, anxieties and depression. It is not easy. Everybody has it in one degree or another, and it is becoming common place to accept it as a legitimate mental health disorder.
As mentioned earlier, “I used to stress” all the time, about little things, about big things. Things that could effect my life, things that could affect another’s life, things that could make life hard, Things that could make me sad or feel hurt. I realized that most of my “stress” was in fact caused from fear based thoughts originating from ego. Low self esteem, low confidence in self, fear of rejection, and the fear of being humiliated in front of peers.
There is no one size fits all approach to how we cope with the disorder of stress and all of it’s effects. For me it started when I realized that it was within me to love myself and to be myself, and to know myself. Where I always looked for the respect and praise from the outside of myself, from other’s to tell me that I was doing good, that they appreciated me and what I was doing. This is what I used to affiliate my sense of worth and feel good to. This is what caused most of my stresses.
I still stress, oh boy, do I ever. Though, I now have developed an awareness of my thoughts that helps me understand why I am having certain thoughts that cause the stress. Still, I can spend hours and days “stressing” before I realize that it is causing an undesirable effect on my inside and outside self.
This is one of my journey’s, to understand my thought process and how it can affect my thoughts, emotions and actions. It is an adventurous ride, full of twists and turns, ups and downs, and one I know will expand my life, consciousness and energy.
Another one of my journey’s, is to share this information with other’s that have this desire, an urge to also expand their life, consciousness and energy. To guide and to support a form of ascension to a higher level of consciousness.
Please feel welcome to comment your thoughts on this topic.