Addicted to Stress - weaning yourself from adrenaline

I’ve been reading about how people these days are addicted to stress. Our society encourages it. I always considered myself an ‘involvaholic’ - too many things going on all the time, until I read somewhere about how this exhausts our adrenals and burns us out. Our bodies are not meant to run off adrenaline and cortisol except in true emergency situations.

I decided to stop living on adrenaline. One of the things I did was get away from caffeine. I drink decaf coffee, for one thing. Caffeine stimulates the adrenal glands. I know decaf is not totally devoid of caffeine, but it doesn’t get me jittery at all, and I don’t get a headache if I miss a day. And there are tons of yummy brands of decaf these days.

Weaning oneself off full-caff coffee and caffeinated sodas is one of the first steps to getting away from needing adrenaline to get through the day. And it’s a much easier one than getting into the nitty gritty of examining one’s life.

The next step is to take a look at what you do each day that gives you a ‘kick.’ Waiting for deadlines to approach is definitely one of these things! As a ex-journalist, I lived for deadlines. There was an exhilaration to it all.

Then eventually I burned out. Now I resist anything that requires me to write by a certain date. It bugs me to even have a deadline; just having one gives me anxiety. I don’t think I ever would have developed a clinical anxiety problem if I didn’t live on adrenaline for so long.

So everyone should take a look at the things you do, on a daily basis, that bring you stress.  Make a list of the things you can eliminate from your life, and don’t be afraid to make a big change to protect your health and sanity. Learn to ask for help if you need it, and learn to say no to more tasks. Decide to spend more time in relaxing activities - make a daily prescription of it!

I am trying to find peaceful contentment and creatively joyful activities to pursue these days. I want to live on proper fuels, like glucose and amino acids, and reserve adrenaline for its intended emergency use. You never know when you will need to have that adrenaline reserve ready to go, instead of having burned out adrenal glands.  :)

Filed under All About Me, involvaholic, mind clutter |