Rushing, Stress..the Continuation

Today I’m picking up on the last post called “The world went and got itself in a big damn hurry.”  The point is that the stress caused by rushing – often when unnecessarily - is absolutely insidious.

Numerous health experts, say the number one killer on the planet is stress. Most physical and nonphysical health problems have long-term, physiological stress as their origin. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 80% of all health care dollars are spent on illnesses related to stress.

A story featured in The Chronicle Herald Newspaper on January 29, 2010 stated ‘In fact, doctors can’t find physical causes for pain suffered by one of every six people who comes to the emergency department, including three out of four patients who have chest pain and nine out of every 10 patients who have abdominal pain, he said. “It’s becoming more and more clear that a lot of these problems are based in emotional distress.”‘

Sounds like a dictionary’s definition of stress to me.  However, the danger is not just about conditions where no physical causes can be found but rather terrible physical conditions.

So what can you do about it?

Can you eliminate all stress from your life? No.  BUT you can eliminate it where it does not need to be. Example: if you have a day off and do not need to rush, don’t.  But there is much more: think about every aspect of your life where you don’t need to rush, don’t need to stress, write them down and ensure that you remove the stress from these situations.

Is that it? No but I think this is the essential starting point.  The next steps will follow once you perform this exercise and then make a commitment to focusing and implementing the steps that you can do to deal with stress and to enhance overall wellness.  Now this might seem simplistic and the truth is: it is.  However, I believe these things can do wonders if you them a try. But remember a previous post: don’t get caught in the trap of overlooking the importance of necessary maintenance.