Not everything is a woolly mammoth...

Not everything is a woolly mammoth...

Our bodies react to stress. We want this. We need this. Stress is the indicator light that something is coming, something is too much, something might be dangerous.

⠀

Stress then tells the body to prepare. It gathers what it needs to fight off the stressor. It temporarily tells our immune system to take a chill pill. It tells your body to store fat. It tells you that you need to stay alert and can affect our sleep.

⠀

Stress IS helpful when all these features are actually warranted. You see the things that our brains now flag as stress are quite common daily occurrences: text messages, newscasters, feisty Facebook and Instagram comments, emails from our bosses, financial concerns. Your brain reads this all the same. Your brain sees this as an attack on you and your village.

⠀

These things are not a woolly mammoth.

⠀

So what can we do? We can work to shift our perspectives. Shifting our perspective can look like acknowledging that stress is just a biological response and bring in some mindfulness or gratitude practices to work through this stress.

⠀

Complete the stress cycle: Identity. Reality Check. Move your body. Reset your thoughts.

⠀⠀

*When you actually study the temperament of a wooly mammoth you see they have no intent on hurting humans and YET it makes sense why one might have startled you out in the wild. That is the whole POINT. Your brain says "O MY I must protect myself" and then you calm down and realize "O this thing cares not about me but rather about itself". MOST things in life are more focused on themselves vs you.