stress

i am told that stress is a metabolic response to various abnormal situations that can create amazing opportunities to move past one’s normal parameters and deal with situations in a heightened sense of awareness. that’s the good news. the down side is that beyond a certain point, stress stops being helpful and starts causing major damage to your health, your mood, your productivity, your relationships, and your quality of life. as science gains greater insight into the consequences of stress on the brain, the picture that emerges is not a pretty one. a chronic overreaction to stress overloads the brain with powerful hormones that are intended only for short-term duty in emergency situations. their cumulative effect damages and kills brain cells. and here i thought my CRS was caused by vast narcotic experimentation during what can only be described as my spotty youth in key west.

my history, as my siblings will attest, was filled with self created drama. bored with my little bland suburban life, i looked for any opportunity to create drama from the world around me. somehow i willed everything in the world to become about how it effected me. sound familiar? it should. the world is full of drama queens who, after being properly wound by some stressful development, will continue to spin until they become a vortex that sucks the energy from every person with whom they come in contact.

the afternoon my sister called me from the emergency room to tell me our mother lay dying was the catalyst for my life altering relationship to stress. it doesn’t get more dramatic that this and it drained the life out of everything in my world. being in the room when a decision about terminating the heart/lung machine, holding her hand as they removed the tubes, waiting in the room after she died for the coroner to come, helping to prepare her lifeless body for burial, the funeral...somehow, nothing was dramatic anymore. my stroke ridden father who was himself dying became an easier fact of life. a month later i had to decide whether to allow one of my dogs to die or remove part of her tumorous jaw. it was upsetting but it was a no brainer. a month after that i received a call that my father’s heart had given out and the paramedics were at the house trying to revive him (if i live to be that old i want DNR tattooed on my forehead). it’s all very sad but those things happened to the ones i loved and as stressful as some moments were, the drama no longer exhibited itself.

stuff happens. everyday. lately i’ve been keeping company with a few friends who are each dealing with very stressful medical conditions. it’s amazing to me how well they are handling the seriousness of the problems without getting caught up in the drama. in fact, the drama seems to be coming from the people around them. all this stress can’t be good for my friends.

i always wonder why people kneel and pray in front of abortion clinics when there are so many unloved children that need their time and attention. isn’t the act of giving love to an orphaned child a better use of one’s time?
it’s certainly less dramatic but infinitely more powerful.