Let’s bust this myth once and for all… We do not have a professional life and a personal life.
We have ONE life.

We have one life, one inner capacity to serve it all. Whatever happens in one, will spill over the other.
The stress that you experience at work can easily spill over into your life at home and affect your relationships and overall well-being.

We have to take a holistic approach to our life.
Because our own internal energetic capacity feeds into all aspects of our human experience.

Resilience is about protecting and building this capacity so it can serve our bodies, mind and soul. 

In this article, we dive deep into what stress is, how stress symptoms present themselves and the vital importance of having tools to reduce cortisol levels.

What is Stress?

Stress is a physical, mental, emotional or spiritual challenge caused by circumstances in your life.

Whatever the source of this challenge, the response in the body is the same: the stress response gets engaged. Adrenaline gets released, your cortisol levels rise.

Sadly, in our busy,  modern world, most people do not have a set of stress management techniques to help them decrease those cortisol levels, which in turn depletes us of our energy, leaving us even more susceptible to stress, and less able to cope with it.

The Different Types of Stress

If you’ve ever considered how stress affects the body, here is what you should know:

Physical Symptoms of Stress

Physical stress can take many forms.
Stress can present itself as an illness or sickness, feeling constantly exhausted from work and struggling to sleep. Poor hydration, nutrition and alcohol put further stress on your body.

Exercising is viewed and known to be beneficial to our health, but often we are not talking about the negative effects of intense exercise with little rest. Have you ever noticed how marathon runners and those constantly pushing themselves to the body’s limit seem to age quicker?

Exercise is a STRESS. If too much is done, with little proper nervous system rest, the constant flood of cortisol will lead to DNA damage and thus, aging.

Some people who experience excessive stress may find themselves turning to other devices such as alcohol or junk food to cope with these overwhelming feelings. With and poor nutrition a source of stress in themselves! 

Emotional Symptoms of Stress

Emotional stress symptoms usually occur due to the loss of a loved one, relationship conflicts, discrimination, or stress in the workplace.

Emotional stress can also presents itself as feeling lonely, experiencing social isolation and disconnection from friends and family.

Intense fight or flight emotions such as frustration, anger, or fear and freeze emotions such as feeling stuck, unseen and depressed are huge stressors.

The Different Aspects Of The Human Experience

Mental Symptoms of Stress

Mental stress is often characterised by excessive workload, pressure to meet deadlines, financial difficulties, academic pressure, or information overload.

Oftentimes the long-term effects of stress can linger within our thoughts way after the stressful situation has occurred. This feeling can leave you feeling overwhelmed by slight inconveniences and experiencing outbursts of emotion.

Spiritual Symptoms of Stress

If you are experiencing a spiritual shift such as questioning your beliefs, having to act against your values, or feeling disconnected from your purpose, this can create spiritual stress in your life and leave you feeling unguided or as though you are lacking something.

Spiritual stress can often lead to a lack of motivation and a feeling of isolation from the world.

One Battery

There are so many different types of stress but one thing that is constant, is that the stress response affecting your mind, emotions and body, is exactly the same every time.

We only have one single source of energy within us, our inner battery if you wish.

If this battery gets drained by physical stress, there will be little left to deal with emotional, mental or physical challenges, and vice versa.

This is why we CANNOT view stress in silos. Stress is ever present throughout all the different dimensions of our lives. We have to view stress and our human experience through a holistic lens.

This is why we cannot expect ourselves or our employees to leave “their problems at the door”. This mindset is outdated and only creates even more pressure.

We cannot separate the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual elements of our human experience, and this is why, in everything that I do, whether it is a talk, workshop, my programme or course, I take a holistic approach, so that you can apply stress management techniques that will positively impact your life, and that of your employees, as a whole. 

➡️ Are you interested in learning more about my services to support your staff in a holistic way so that they can become resilient in all aspects of their lives and be the best version of themselves both at work and home?
Head over here and submit your application for an introductory call.