What has stress done for you or to you lately?
I don’t know about you, but for me, the word “stress” has a negative connotation. Over the years, I’ve had many experiences with stress, some minor bouts of worry, others, positive events that were stressful, and also some close to debilitating experiences due to anxiety. I have read numerous books and conducted various research on the topic, with the ultimate goal of learning how to get through the worry or anxiety, to reduce or minimize it, and not allow it to affect my sleep or take over my life.
I remember reading about how stress can be positive or negative. Positive stressors, or “eustress”(events such as a pregnancy, holiday or wedding). This type of event that stands out for me was the morning of my wedding. My husband and I got married in the Brazilian Room in the Berkeley Hills of Northern California. It was this grand event room, placed at the top of a gorgeous hill in Tilden Regional Park. It was one of the most popular venues for weddings, and other types of special events. It books up years in advance, but we were able to have our special day at this beautiful place. The morning of the wedding, I had such an exuberant energy and excitement that I ended up getting totally lost on my drive to my own wedding, which created a very stressful situation. During this time, I did not own a cell phone and there was no one to ask for directions. Although one of my sisters was with me, we felt totally alone. The pressure of knowing that we had to be there early to take care of bridal activities felt so overwhelming. In the middle of this desperation, after crying a bit, I started praying that the Lord would help us; that He would show me which way to go. I then turned the car around from where I thought I came from, made a few turns and then the surroundings began to seem familiar. I looked ahead and saw the entrance to the park. Again, God answered my prayer. I made it to the park with enough time to gain my composure, get dressed, and have my stylist finish my updo.
Negative stress or “distress” is a feeling of pressure or of being overwhelmed), resulting in a full-blown stress, response. I found an article in Forbes Health called “Stress Statistics and Facts in 2024” (Stress Statistics And Facts In 2024 – Forbes Health), which had some pretty scary statistics on stress in the U.S. One that stood out was that “Violence and crime are significant sources of stress for 75% of U.S. adults.
As you are reading this, what are some of the key areas of stress in your life that come to mind? And, have these stresses led to positive results?
For me, financial or health concerns come to my mind. I remember when we were living in Florida, we owned a few rental properties as well as our own hone. With the rental properties, we relied on the rent to pay our monthly mortgage. There were a number of months when rent was late, and we had no idea how we were going to pay the mortgage for that particular rental property. At times, we were about to be robbing Peter to pay Paul. However, we were always able to make our payments. Although we didn't always submit our payment on time, we consistently made our mortgage payments. Paying the mortgage wasn't the only issue. We had numerous repairs that needed to be taken care of on an ongoing basis, as the properties were older. Not to mention the fact that our tenants knew all too well how to manipulate and take advantage of the welfare system, including us as landlords. This put additional pressure on my husband, as he was the one handling the properties. We would spend endless hours talking about the properties (finances, tenants, repairs needed, etc.) and prioritizing which property needed what, which included praying about each and every issue that needed to be taken care of for each apartment.
Throughout all of the stresses over my lifetime, what I’ve realized is that no matter what I go through and whatever type of difficulty I encounter, Jesus is always with me and always answers my prayer. One of the scriptures that often comes to my mind during both the positive and negative stressful situations is in found in the book of Hebrews, chapter 13, verses 5&6: “…For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly say: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?””
Other things that have helped me include stress relief techniques like mindfulness practices (deep breathing), exercise (Pickleball and Peloton) and hobbies (watch movies with my husband) to help mitigate any of the adverse effects of stress.
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