Of Stress and Spirituality

[Anonymous]

I just came through 6 weeks of extreme stress. I worked 16- 19 hour days several 6-7 days a week, and missed three straight weeks of Church in order to stay on top of work, academic, and other pursuits that all came together at the same time for some reason. I finished the marathon last night.

I’m finding I can’t seem to let go of the stress. I still feel wound up so to speak, not relaxed, tense, and feeling that I must continue the marathon of long hours even though there is now slack in my schedule. I’m on a weight loss program and have lost almost 40 pounds, so physically I have had the stamina, and don’t feel physically tired. But mentally, I feel all wound up and emotionally/mentally/spiritually exhausted.

Just curious, have you ever experienced this? And how do you use spirituality to restore peace to your heart and mind? I’m not anxious so to speak, just kind of tensed up and feeling I must drive myself hard — and feel I still have to really push myself, even though I don’t have to right now. For example, I could take this morning off, but am about to knock out more work that could wait a day or two. I have not experienced this before. In previous years, when I was HPGL, this would put me into depression, but that didn’t happen this time. I am not depressed, just, spiritually exhausted and driven, when I don’t have to be.

Comments?

[Anonymous]

For me, the one solution that comes to mind:

Identify one place, near you, when you go there you experience complete peace or serenity.

Then add to your list. Here are some items on my list.

A. the dog park. Everytime I go with my dog, she experiences complete joy. Playing with other dogs or humans. Then, I begin to experience it too.

B. any art museum. Look at something beautiful not in this world. Anything painted by Monet, etc.

C. listen to classical music.

D. go to lunch (or dinner) with a good friend & talk with no time limit in mind.

E. talk to a child. Lately, when a sacrament meeting gets alittle dull or boring, my wife & watch the children in the congregation. Parents probably think we’re strange.

F. go to a play or concert.

G. exercise. (I’ve discovered this one only recently.)

H. go to an AA meeting & listen to someone elses problems. (You must be an alcoholic to do this one.)

I used to drink. That worked for a while. Then it became a problem. I wouldn’t recommend that one.

My point is there are alot of things we can do to relieve stress & achieve spirituality. Make a list of your own.

Mike from Milton.

[Anonymous]

SilentDawning wrote:

…I’m finding I can’t seem to let go of the stress. I still feel wound up so to speak, not relaxed, tense, and feeling that I must continue the marathon of long hours even though there is now slack in my schedule…mentally, I feel all wound up and emotionally/mentally/spiritually exhausted…Just curious, have you ever experienced this? And how do you use spirituality to restore peace to your heart and mind? I’m not anxious so to speak, just kind of tensed up and feeling I must drive myself hard — and feel I still have to really push myself, even though I don’t have to right now. Comments?

I feel stressed out most of the time and haven’t found any good cure for this so far but I try to take a break on weekends and let some things wait until next week to deal with. That’s what the Sabbath day means to me; as far as I’m concerned it should be a day to enjoy and relax. That’s why I asked to be released from my last calling because church mostly added to my stress and became one more thing to worry about and I didn’t look forward to it.

[Anonymous]

I find that the worst part of being in a stressful time is that every thought takes me back to the thing causing the stress… in my case work. I wake up at night and immediately start thinking about work… happened last night, even though things are less stressful at work for me right now. I was able to get it out of my mind pretty quickly, because It’s not a stressful time, but in times of high stress, I can’t get back to sleep. With that it mind, I believe it’s important to find other avenues for your mind.

Depending on what level of spirituality you are looking for, you may find prayer very helpful. Prayer is a great way to reset your mind.

If you are a believer in Jesus, then I suggest reading the Gospel According to Mark. It’s the fastest read of all the gospels, and as such, is nearly relentless its approach “Immediately…” is a common phrasing. It works well for the fast-paced nature of your life right now, but can get your brain onto this really amazing story of the life of Jesus, in which preconceived notions of how one should live a duty-filled life are replaced with Jesus trying to show that you can leave that all behind and have the Kingdom of God right here and now.

While not strictly spiritual in nature, service to others is a great way to balance what is really important.

[Anonymous]

Oh yes. Very much. The anxiety and panic of deadlines and seeming impossible situations (good positive panic most of the time). THAT I have experienced on many occasions SD. I still do. I’m stuck in right now fighting my way out for the next week or two also. How do people deal with it?

1. For the more enlightened: They exercise and meditate … or some crap like that?

2. For the truly modern, they get speciality-tailored, boutique pharmaceuticals from their doctor.

3. Most of the world just blows of steam with the world’s oldest anti-anxiety medicine: alcohol

Pick yer bandage mate [pirate voice]

FWIW, the real solution is to let go of a stressful life, become an ascetic and go live in the wilderness off the grid. Good luck with that… :think:

For me really, the best thing is to have some sort of plan, to be doing something to fix my problem. It sounds like that isn’t your issue so much. It’s just a lot of work to plow through. Try to make yourself get some real sleep, otherwise you end up spinning wheel and getting nothing done. At least that happens to me. It also helps me to say I am going to give it my all up to _______ (fill in the time) tonight. Then I give myself permission to stop. I also meditate and focus on being in the present moment, not wasting mental energy on all the possibilities of the the future (more problems, worry, anxiety, etc.)

[Anonymous]

1) I take regular, small breaks. I work for an hour or two, for example, then make myself take a 5-15 minute break where I just relax, joke around with someone, read inspiration things or simple brain candy / escapist fluff, etc.

2) I commit about 5% of my work time to “dreaming” and “imagining”. By that, I mean I spend about 2-3 hours each week (on a planned schedule, so it doesn’t get lost) doing nothing but thinking about what I could do in order to do something “special”. I say to myself, “If I could accomplish anything related to __________, what would I want to do? How might I be able to make it happen? Etc.” I know I won’t accomplish most of the things I imagine and about which I dream – but it’s led me to some really cool accomplishments in my life, so I keep doing it. I just don’t let myself expect anything out of it, so whatever does happen is a nice surprise.

3) I put family stuff on my calendar first and then make myself justify taking those things off to do something else. I find that if I don’t schedule something, it doesn’t get done – so I schedule my breaks and my family activities and other non-stressful things first.

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