Journey to Oprah

I have been addicted to stress for about 10 years now. At first I felt that I just liked drama, or had to always have something to do otherwise I would die somehow, but then it hit me–I feel like I can’t function without a certain level of stress. But why is that? Well reading this article called Stress Junkie over at oprah.com, I have learned that a lot of the reasons why we turn to stress can be for the simple fact that we don’t know how else to function or we are trying to hide from other tasks. In the meantime we continue to build our lives around doing more, and more and more until we are tightly wound and must continue on in this path of destruction. I find myself almost feeling like I’m going to die because of all the stress in my life and expectations that I put on myself to be better and better.

So what can we do to stop this horrible addiction? The advice that Martha Beck gives is to let yourself go, accept your stress and don’t allow it take you over. Also running, or exerting your energy in something else besides the stress will you help you to “balance out”. By being patient with ourselves we are able to tell that stress to calm down, and in turn WE calm down and things will start to balance out.

What you should know by now: Life is short, breathe deep.

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I never got the chance to post yesterday with all the hooplah that the Thanksgiving holiday weekend brings. Holidays always get my mind going about the complexities and hidden gems that the power of family has. We all have something deep inside our families that we are either ashamed of, angry about, or proud about. As much of a scrooge that I sadly claim to be at times, deep down inside I continue to long for the connection between my family and friends that I consider family. Call it wishful thinking, or unrealistic expectations, but I call it hope. Hope in knowing that even though things don’t look as good as we want them, or even if we feel like the ugly duckling of the family, that the greater purpose is pushing down these insecurities and building the legacy that we all have inside of us.

Oprah Show Topic: Remembering Ted Kennedy

I felt a lot of pride and felt inspired to just be able to “peek” into his life. After all, we all were so attached to the Kennedy’s for so many years, it’s almost as if we know them personally. His wife talked about “he was always looking forward, never looking back”, which is so powerful and disciplined to do. Even with his grave diagnosis with brain cancer, he was able to push past that and almost see this perceived reality of dying as a possibility. We have a lot of power in seeing life inside of us and in others. When you have that will to push past anything that doesn’t make sense, or seem right, or tough, you are able to become something so powerful, an unstoppable force. Having seen so many tragic deaths in his family alone he was determined and had hope, and nothing stopped him. I’m happy to have a “glimpse” of his life.

What you should know for sure: Hope lives, start somewhere.

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