Are you burnt out, at the end of your rope, exhausted? Do recent developments (cultural, political, historical, your own personal and individual) affect your wellbeing? If your answer to the first question is yes, yes, and/or yes because something in question two is plaguing you, then you might be experiencing the effects of chronic and ongoing stress.
Stress is a funny word. Sometimes people conflate stress with anxiety or depression or overwhelm. Actually, stress is a neutral term. Stress is a form of friction that can be bad or good, depending. Someone who loves a fast pace with lots of demands exploding all over the place is under stress (but they thrive off of it); another person may have few demands on their time or energy but they don’t have much capacity and so, though minimal, their level of stress is destructive.
Stress is the cost of getting through your day drawn from whatever level of energy you have in the tank. An imbalance in either direction is detrimental. When the imbalance is cumulative or not welcomed or unfixable? Then it can become a toxic burden or a drain. And when this imbalance is significant, chronic, and collective, then stress can blossom into an embodied form of trauma that is almost impossible to eradicate without mindful and consistent efforts to heal.
~~~
~~~
What can a person do, especially if there is an ongoing level of threat or overwhelm on a communal level? In this blog post, I will share thoughts on three broad themes for self-care and wellbeing during periods of long-term and collective imbalance. These are:
- A self-audit of your current circumstances;
- Useful options for meaningful self-care; and
- Anchors for when you’re navigating rough seas.
My hope for this essay is to provide you with some inspiration and hope for a healthier, happier future even if today is challenging.
~~Self-audit? Yes!~~
Now is a great time to sit down with your strengths and your weaknesses. What are you good at, and how can you lean into your strengths during times of ongoing stress? Where are your areas that need some support?
As a practitioner of Chinese medicine, I would advise anyone right now to consider your physical and emotional wellbeing as you make your plan for self-care and overall wellness. Not to be prosaic, but how is your sleep…your digestion…your blood sugar…your self talk? If you have old emotional scars that cry out for attention, now may be the time to do something about them. If your body is hindered by any physical scars or limitations, now might be the time to do something about that.
~~~
~~~
I cannot emphasize strongly enough the value of a healthy gut microbiome. If you do nothing else, work on your innards. Did you know just how much gut bacteria affects your overall wellbeing? It’s not just a question of being able to digest and make use of nutrients (although a healthy gut makes that a lot easier). Your gut affects your mood, your skin health, your mental health, and more.
Blood sugar is another area that merits your attention. If your blood sugar is up and down over the course of the day, that affects your mood and alters metabolism. Now might not be the time to commit to losing twenty or more pounds in half that number of weeks, but do you feel like you are able to consider your weight, maybe adjust your eating habits, and dedicate some energy to learning about ways to maintain tight control of your blood sugar? If you can do that, you’re halfway there.
In my first career I was a Spanish professor. My area specialty was national trauma (big-picture trauma, namely: civil war, dictatorship, genocide, and torture) and how this collective damage filtered through literature and art. My doctoral dissertation focused on short fiction, the literary fantastic, fairy stories, and magical realism and ways that nations heal by way of their narratives. As I declare in my professional bio: I still believe wholeheartedly in the power of story to effect change and to create healing both on the cultural and on the individual levels.
A hero’s journey begins with a call to action. The normal response is to reject the call…but then there is a change of heart and the journey begins. What would it take to make you get up off your couch?
~~~
~~~
~~Meaningful self-care: How and what?~~
Another key element of your journey? Breath and movement. Some of us have an exercise program and others have started and stopped. Maybe you’ve never really been one for mindfulness projects, but you realize that you need to either start or change what you’re doing (or not doing).
What if you’re not interested in the tried-and-true (aka yoga and meditation)?
Have you considered balancing exercises? Lately, and speaking as someone who on occasion trips over her own feet, I’ve been focusing on my physical sense of balance and proprioception. As always, when the student is ready, the teacher appears: I found GiBoard and got myself a pro board. It’s so fun! I’m awful at it and may never be able to balance gracefully BUT…this requires focus (so if I’m ruminating, I can snap out of it and pay attention to my balance…or fall on my butt). It requires core strength (who doesn’t need core strength, right?). And it is helping me to feel a greater connection from my feet to my center of gravity. I love my GiBoard.
~~~
~~~
My other obsession is Berg Movement. Again, no idea how or why I found Sondre Berg, but I did and I got the app and am following along with the flexibility and strength program. I grew up in a gym environment and almost all my trainers were competitive body builders. If I want to put on muscle, I know how to do that. I do not know how to do things that require excellent proprioception. I don’t have the ability to do cool things that require strong shoulders and wrists (I’m learning with his app though). I will be shocked if I can ever do even a quarter of what this guy does. But following the app is giving me new ideas and inspiration for how to use my body and that, as with the case of my GiBoard pro, is invaluable.
It’s too easy to get stuck and stay there when the stress is ongoing and it seems like it will never, ever end. Learning things that force you to think differently and to focus while doing them is a smart way to avoid stuck-ness.
And if you’re not necessarily a good candidate for in-home slackline practice or acrobatics? Tai chi is a Chinese martial art that can be as challenging or as relaxing as you want it to be. It is somewhat akin to yoga in that it, too, links breath and movement. In my practice and as a health coach, a number of my patients live with chronic conditions like Ehlers Danlos syndrome and they are not yet in condition to try movement therapy.1 Other patients are stiff and tight from stress and from sitting too much. Tai chi is a great choice in such cases. In others? Well, some people are attracted to the martial art aspect. Tai chi is a great option for any of these scenarios.
You can rely on tai chi for focus, grace, and quiet strength or you can push further into its roots as a defense practice. What would you want from tai chi?
~~~
~~~
~~Find your anchors~~
Waiting until things are turbulent and you are good and freaked out (if not completely destabilized) is not an optimal strategy. Where are your anchors? If you don’t have a good support system now, how will you find one if you’re in a state of desperation? Creating a support system takes effort and attention, so begin today, while you have energy and a relative sense of capacity for such endeavors.
Now might be a great time to start looking for a psychotherapist. If that doesn’t appeal to you, then what about a health coach? If you have never tried it, Chinese medicine can be a lifesaver if you are chronically stressed. Before you accept the anti-anxiety drug your MD prescribed for you it could be worth your while to see what’s what at an acupuncturist’s office. Working with a personal trainer might be an option. But whatever you do, make it healthy. Create touchstones in your life that give you stability and hope and a goal to focus on in place of your worries.
~~~
~~~
One of my favorite sayings is “No goal, no soul” and it’s a favorite for a reason: I do believe that a life without goals is an empty existence, not a life, especially when chaos surrounds. Goals can provide inspiration and they can also be anchors that keep you focused and on track no matter the upheaval surrounding you.
Bottom line? Chronic stress can warp you in ways you’d never even considered. If you’re living with long-term trauma and now recent events are compounding the effects of it, then you already know what I mean when I say this. Either way, it really does make a difference if you strategize, you set up the right support system for your needs, and you start actively, mindfully start taking care of yourself. And yes, it does take some work (especially at the outset) but you are worth it and you deserve to become your best level of healthy you.
So, what is your story? And how can you make yourself the hero of your wellness journey? Of your own life? What are your goals for the next few years? What do you want next month? How do you want to feel tomorrow?
And what, then, will you do today to get there?
*****
*****
Dr. Paula Bruno, Ph.D., L.Ac., is a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist, an AOBTA-CP traditional Chinese bodywork therapist, a health coach, and an author. She maintains an active and growing practice at her Austin, TX office. Dr. Bruno is also available for distance appointments for wellness consultation or coaching.
In her first career, she was a Spanish professor.
Dr. Bruno’s specialties as a Chinese medicine practitioner include: • Musculoskeletal health (acute or chronic pain relief; Ehlers Danlos syndrome & hypermobility support) • Digestive support, gut health, and weight loss • Aesthetic treatment, including scar revision • Men’s health • General preventative care and wellness support for all persons.
She is the author of Chinese Medicine and the Management of Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome: A Practitioner’s Guide. Dr. Bruno also maintains a second website, holistichealthandheds.com, with resources and information curated specifically for people with hEDS and HSD.
When you are ready to discover what traditional medicine plus a vibrant and engaged approach to holistic health can do for you, either contact Dr. Bruno or book an appointment online.
*****
*****
Two Hearts Wellness does not accept paid advertising on this website
Note: Material on this web site site is not intended to diagnose, prevent, treat, or cure any disease, illness, or ailment. A Chinese medicine practitioner in Texas identifies syndrome patterns but does not diagnose illness. Material on this web site does not purport to identify syndrome patterns.
*****
- In that case, I suggest that the patient or client (the clients are my health coaching folk; patients come see me in my office for Chinese medicine treatments) try watching tai chi videos and visualizing themselves making the movements along with the teacher. A great resource for anyone, but especially for people with Ehlers Danlos syndrome, is Earth Balance Tai Chi ↩︎
Two Hearts Wellness 