Don't handle stress. Use it.

But.

You can break free.

After my parents divorced, my mom and older sister became very close. Jenna, my sister, was vibrant, passionate and full of energy.

At age 20, before she even had the chance to truly live, her life was cut short by a murderer.

It was too much for my mom.

But at the time, no one would have thought so.

She went about the business of burying her young daughter with quiet composure.

No tears. No wailing. No fainting.

She seemed to be the picture of strength.

Perhaps like you, although she was devastated at the loss of her beloved child, she bottled up her feelings and the stress of the event began to manifest in her body, choking her good health.

Over the next 20 or so years, her health deteriorated to such an extent, that today she can hardly eat anything without becoming violently ill.

The root cause of her poor health started when my big sister died.

But followed her for the rest of her life.

Will You Allow Stress To Follow Yours?

Had my mother known the start of her health problems was due to the stress of my sister’s shocking death, perhaps she could have reduced the effects by learning how to handle stress.

But the big problem with stress is you may not even know it’s at the root cause of your biggest problems.

Stress can be the root cause of the following:

• Lack of sexual intimacy
• Headaches
• Lack of energy
• Itching and irritation
• Allergy attacks
• Constipation or diarrhea
• Memory problems
• Insomnia
• Nightmares
• Lack of confidence
• Guilt
• Frequent urination
• Colds, infections
• Frequent herpes attacks
• Cold hands and feet
• Stuttering

And much, much more. In fact, a study by the Mental Health Foundation shows that for stressed people

• 49% find it hard to sleep
• 49% feel short tempered and irritable and
• 40% feel tired all the time

Now, while insomnia, irritability and fatigue may be the most common signs of stress, the less common signs could be more debilitating, like my mother’s downward health spiral with food allergies, bladder infections and colon issues.

What I’m trying to say is that you could be sitting with a problem that is a result of stress, but you don’t even know it.

How does your stress manifest?

Please don’t allow the problem to get out of control years from now, because you decided today not to take any action to learn how to handle stress.

Stress is not going anywhere.

That’s a fact.

Just when you think you’ve licked it,

it’s gonna bite you in the butt again.

There is good news though. You can learn to bite back.

Statistics show that 18% of people deal with their stress by drinking alcohol, and 10% by smoking.

Please don’t start drinking or smoking to deal with yours.

Because quite frankly, alcohol and cigarettes will only add to the problem.

Imagine this:

Stress comes a-knocking. But this time, unlike previous times, there’s a few marked changes.

This time, you’re able to identify it for what it is, even though it manifests as something rather odd, like itchiness on your left second big toe.

But before we go on…

Let’s revert back to my initial story about my mother’s stress after losing my sister.

My mother’s health problems began shortly after my sister’s death.

Bottled up, undealt-with stress eventually resulted in a hysterectomy, which later led to bladder problems. Had she been equipped with knowledge about how to deal with her stress, she could have nipped the effects in the bud.

But in those days, information about handling stress was not readily available. This meant:

• She didn’t even know that stress was the root cause of her major health problems, and
• She was not empowered to deal with the stress that was causing her issues

Had she been empowered, her life’s story could have taken a very different path.

Stress caused:

• Not being able to eat many, many foods, making it very difficult to have a quality social life
• Becoming viciously ill from food allergies
• Feeling physically weak
• Suffering from insomnia
• Having a problem colon
• Suffering from ongoing bladder infections
• And many more health issues

Stress Got The Better Of Her.

Will it get the better of you too?

You decide.

You can decide to break free from the chains of stress that bind you, and live life with freedom, joy and hope.

Or you can continue life as you know it.

Health problems. Lack of confidence. Fear. Insomnia. Irritability.

Day in. Day out.

And in 5 years’ time, because you chose not to handle it today, this moment, how will life look for you then?

I have seen my mother suffer.

Please…..don’t allow stress to dominate your life.