Stress is an illusive term – we are told we are stressed, need to be less stressed, but sometimes we don’t even understand what they are saying. I was told I needed to ‘calm down’ for years before I got sick – but I had no understanding of stress or what it was doing to my body. So it’s important to identify stress in ourselves so we can take action before it’s too late.

In this post I will highlight how you can identify stress in yourself, so you can take action before your body does it for you.

Why it is important to identify stress

Stress impacts the body negatively in many ways – psychologically, physically, emotionally – and our nervous system when over-used actually impacts the entire body function. This is why I care about stress so much and as much as it’s not ‘cool’ to talk about, I talk about it anyway and when it comes to my clients, working on ways to mitigate stress is essential for optimal wellbeing.

So, you need to identify what stress is, and like I mentioned earlier, it can be physical, emotional, chemical, or spiritual. If you don’t know what stress is, then you have no hope of rectifying it! 

What is a stressor?

It’s something that overloads your nervous system, beyond it’s ability to recover. We call it ‘sympathetic dominance’ and if you have signs of this, you are stressed.

Do any of those pointers above ring true for you?

Additionally, if you have a health condition, this is a stressor, if you have a high-stakes job, then this is a stressor. If you ruminate or experience a lot of negative emotion, then this too, is a stressor.

Once you identify you have stress, the next step is to identify where it is coming from. Then you want to assess whether these stressors are necessary in your life. Work out if they are coming from you, or if it is coming externally to you. Work out how to navigate it from there. Maybe you need to change your work conditions, set more boundaries, or change your lifestyle. It’s an exploration process that takes time but is 100% worthwhile. 

I hope that helps to demystify stress for you, I’ll be posting more on the topic in the future. If you wish to check it out in more detail (and I mean, soooo much detail), have a look at The Nervous System Reset, my stress transformation course for women.

Jen x