Emergency!!!

I gotta get the word about this silent killer.

My story:
My job is stressful. I have volunteered myself for a trillion church things. I have BILLS. Not bills but BILLS. I have a deadline for achieving my weight loss. And my family puts an enormous amount of pressure on me for greatness.

So,
I've been under the weather for almost two months now. Various ailments have plagued me. I kept feeling a cold coming on but I fought it off twice in March. Early April I succumbed but it was the superflu that got me. I was laid up in my bed for days. Once that was done I had a lingering cough that just left a few days ago. I had to go to the Emergency Room because the cough was so bad my entire body was in pain from the strain.

I've had some chronic chest pains since February. I ofcourse ignore pain if it's not extreme but Saturday night it got extreme and I once again found myself in the emergency room. So far they can't find anything wrong with me except anemia. I have an appt to see my Internalist Monday.

Scary stuff aint it. I didn't even mention the migraines and extreme fatigue and scoliosis that affects my posture. I sound like a leper :(

But in the hospital I learned something shocking. Almost all of my ailments might be caused by stress!!! I am literally aging myself by allowing stress to actually become a part of my life. I've been under severe stress for so long that I feel like it's normal. When I felt pure peace a few weeks ago I found myself having a panic attack in church.

This is just craziness. All the 'circle' members know that I am focusing on my health (spiritual and physical) but I think it comes down to me just saying 'no'. I cannot be all and do all for all people. I want to help everyone and take care of everything but it's not possible. I get it all done but at the cost of my health?!

I need to learn to just nibble at things instead of taking such huge bites of problems at a time. Every muscle in my body has been engaged and it even hurts to turn my neck at work. Funny how this crept up on me. Never would have realized what was going on had I not ended up in the hospital.

Never again. My one and only project for now is learning how to first de-stress, then setting up protective boundaries for my life so I am never so loaded again. We all need at least 40minutes to ourselves...awake not sleeping.

Take a look at your life and make sure this isn't happening to you. I'm single without any kids. I don't drink or smoke yet my body still folded from stress. I'm sure alot of you mothers out there are so stressed it's affecting your health as well.

Be careful people!