When Stress Arises, Why is Self Care the First Thing to Go?

Something has come up, and it’s big. We are all tightened up inside and bunched up with emotions and thoughts swirling around in our head. This is going to be stressful. Everything must be set aside, so we can sit and stew in the drama of what we are dealing with here.

No time for the yoga class or to even sit for 5 minutes in meditation! No time for the daily walk or run, because so much time must be devoted to why should we feel so crummy. We must solve this unsolvable problem with the most clouded mind we can conjure up right now.

Sorry for the dramatic sarcasm, but isn’t this a human pattern?

Doesn’t it feel somewhat familiar to those of you who have experienced it? Why is it, that when stressful things come up in our lives, we tend to stop doing the very thing that will help us get out of it with greater ease? How do we let our thoughts convince us that all we should be doing is stewing in them?

This is the exact opposite of what we should be doing, and why routine self-care is so incredibly essential. When we commit to a self-care routine as a ritual, we will continue to do it no matter what comes up in our life. The ten-minute daily meditation happens no matter what, and when stress comes up, it’s probably time to put in a couple other ten minute dailys.

That regular Pilates class or bike ride you take is the last thing you should let go of when you are stressed. Stress is not something that will go away the more you think about it. The only way to solve any problem is with a clearer mind, not more thoughts.

One of the benefits of meditation is realizing that you aren’t your thoughts, so you don’t cling to them as much. You are also more connected to your body, so you can tune in and realize when you are in a stress response. You can then respond to what your body needs, rather than what your thoughts are “shoulding” you about.

Exercise releases endorphins, those feel-good hormones that flood the body with natural positive energy and tension release. Stress is meant to be felt in the moment of heightened alert and then let go of when the danger has passed. Today many people walk around with a constant heightened state of alert in their body, offering themselves little to no relief.

The body needs to let go of the stress on the regular. And when it does, the answers to the problems you seek will have the chance to float into your awareness. Your inner guidance will be able to offer up solutions to what you are stressing about, and whether there is action you can take, or whether it is time to let go and surrender.

Regardless of what the answer is to the stress you are feeling, letting go of any self-care activity is the last thing you should do. Even if you only have 10 minutes in your day, take that walk. Sit with a guided meditation. Do 50 pushups.

Whatever it takes, be in your body and out of your thoughts as a ritual daily habit. Don’t let your mind tell you that you need to drop everything and just think about all the stress you have. Don’t allow it to call person after person complaining about everything you are dealing with.

Don’t feed the stress. Feed the body what it needs to soften from the tension and distract from the mind, and you will get through it all with greater ease.