Send to a Friend

ANef_is_Enuf's avatar

How much stress is too much?

Asked by ANef_is_Enuf (26839points) January 20th, 2020

In the past few years I’ve had multiple surgeries (one of which was pretty significant), have experienced infertility and failed treatments, a minor housefire, had several losses of close loved ones (including both of my beloved dogs), am going through a divorce under pretty horrible circumstances which has put me in a difficult situation financially, all while experiencing a PTSD relapse.

I have had a lot of therapy in my life and I still regularly see a therapist. I take care of myself and I prioritize healthy habits. I practice deep breathing and mindfulness, I’m generally a positive person, I exercise consistently and regularly spend time outdoors, I eat a nutritious diet, I’m mindful of the media content I consume… etc. I take steps to counter the stress in my life proactively.

I still feel like I can’t handle this. My hair is falling out, I feel like I’ve aged 10 years, I am barely able to will myself to get out of bed in the morning let alone muster up the energy to rebuild my life from the bottom up. It’s just been a barrage of hardships one right after the other and I am trying to keep my chin up, but it feels like there’s not a whole lot of opportunity to find my bearings before something else major is happening… which leads me to wonder if all stress is meant to be managed.

At what point is it “too much” stress and what are the negative effects of that? Is it always possible to counter the impact of stress on the body or does that require exceptional discipline as we see in meditating monks? How plausible is it to reduce chronic stress in this current culture? How much is it impacted by social and income factors?

Using Fluther

or

Using Email

Separate multiple emails with commas.
We’ll only use these emails for this message.