...know your limits

.....of late i've been confronted with my own limits and the limits of others. it's right that we have limits. limits protect us. they protect us from the stresses and rigors of life causing us harm. but what happens when you stop listening to your inner voice telling you that you've reached your limit? well, you get ill, don't you?

prolonged high levels of cortisol can lead to heart disease and other health problems.

cortisol is an important hormone in the body, and assists with glucose metabolism, regulation of blood pressure, and immune function; among other things. normally, it’s present in the body at higher levels in the morning, and at its lowest at night. cortisol is secreted in higher levels during the body’s ‘fight or flight’ response to stress, and is responsible for several stress-related changes in the body. small increases of cortisol have some positive effect like giving you a quick burst of energy for survival reasons (like running away from tigers), lowering sensitivity to pain (the ability to keep running after the tiger has took a chunk out of your arm), and heightened memory function (the ability to remember to run away from tigers 'cos you got bitten last time)


while cortisol is an important and helpful part of the body’s response to stress, it’s important that the body’s relaxation response is activated so the body’s functions can return to normal following a stressful event.  in my current high-stress state, i wonder if my relaxation response is being activated at all!! (other than when alcohol induced). it doesn't feel like it at 5 o'clock in the moring when i wake up with a start and wonder if i'll remember everything i need to do today, and have time to do i!!. i can handle this when the next day is a work day (although i don't like it) but i'm struggling now as i find i'm doing this on a weekend!

if the body’s stress response is activated so often that the body doesn’t always have a chance to return to normal, this results in a state of chronic stress. hmmmm!

i'd be lying if i tried to claim that all the stress in my life is to do with work. being a working parent comes with it's stresses. and in this modern world i don't find i'm able to just work and be a parent like my parents pretty much did. i feel the need to keep fit (possibly something previous generations didn't need to worry about as life was not as sedentary and food not as readily available or processed), i feel the need to make music, i feel the need to sort the house and the garden, i feel the need to write a blog and keep up to date with facebook!..... and this is the problem with modern life ....all of these things are great and important and very cathartic; including having a challenging and stimulating job. in fact, you could argue that lots of these things, including making sure you give time to friends and family, help to alleviate stress... but, how do we fit it all in without it becoming stressful.

there's a lot of talk about work/life balance. i think it should be the other way around life/work balance. the important thing is your life, and your work is part of that. we're in danger of our life becoming part of our work. we should not have to "work" at life; it should come naturally and paid work should be part of that and should not engulf it. i feel i'm being engulfed at the moment. but i'm not gonna let it get me down and i'm not going to let it effect my life. i'm going to balance my work to my life and not the other way around.....

....i'll keep you posted ;-)