Stress and Gratitude
Okay. 247.4. Now I’m back at my lowest since starting this. And I just completed 21 minutes on my elliptical. So I’m good to go for today. I’ve missed a couple of days of writing, but it’s because life has moved so fast. I didn’t even realize 3 days had gone by, but I did pay attention to my portions. When I went out to eat, I split a meal with my husband – and I took the smaller half! And when the restaurant across the street had my favorite special, I invited my mom to lunch and we split it. And you know what? I wasn’t hungry afterwards. I was totally satisfied. That would never have happened before. I would have wanted more, but my tummy would have been so uncomfortable. Doing it this way, my tummy feels fine and I don’t get the “after lunch energy drop”. It’s all in the way you look at it. Instead of saying “I only get half” and feeling deprived, you say “I get to have this much” and you feel blessed!
That brings me to another topic I wanted to share with you. Gratitude. My mom (yep, her again) told me an interesting tidbit. She said that stress and gratitude cannot be in your body at the same time. I think she got it from her mentoring at BookWise. But it has to do with the chemical or hormonal stuff your body releases when you feel each of those emotions. For instance, when you are infatuated with someone your body releases endorphins that make you happy…. or when you eat chocolate or exercise it releases those same endorphins. Have you heard that? Well, it is the same with stress and gratitude. They have opposite reactions in your body. They cannot live there at the same time. SO…. that means that if you are feeling particularly stressed, just count your blessings. Sounds simple, huh? Well, I’ve tried it. It works. When you think about all the things and people and privileges you are blessed with, your stress level drops. You know, it really does make sense because as you think about blessings, you think about where they come from. God. And that makes you think about the bigger picture. Stress is usually a temporal feeling – having to do with the here and now. When you look at the bigger picture of life, the things you are stressed about can seem trivial. And if you involve God in your stressors, He can make your burdens feel light. And if you ask Him first, you won’t make some of the dumb mistakes you make that give you stress in the first place!
My plan for today is to continue eating smaller portions. I’ve already done my exercise, so I just need to make sure to drink plenty of water. By the way, drinking water and staying hydrated keeps the chapped lips away! (But that’s a story for another day…..)
