Is STRESS Real?

Hello and welcome to my very first post on our new blog. My path to fitness is a website created just for you, no matter how old you are, no matter how fit or unfit you are, whether you are interested in senior fitness or baby boomer fitness, or just plain interested in living longer and living better.

 Over the weeks and months to come you will get to know me, Rita Losee, Woman of Adventure, Doctor of Success and learn about the amazing places my life’s journey has taken me — including the opportunity to be a part of this website. But right now, I want to refelct a bit on some programming I heard yesterday on the Today Show. The segment was about stress in the lives of Americans.

The figure that caught my ears was that 32 percent of Americans say they are afflicted with “extreme stress.” Yeaow! And to think stress doesn’t really exist, except as we create it in our minds. That may strike you as a radical statement, but did you ever see stress, touch it, bump into it in the middle of the night. Stress isn’t like trees or automoblies, or the sweat that runs down your face after a good workout. It’s something that exists in our minds and in our culture. In one sense, it’s not even real.  And yet, it is related to a very high precentage of doctor’s visits and the illnesses that kill us.

Now, when an automobile nearly runs over me while I’m crossing the street, do I react? Absolutely, I go directly into fight of flight. Thank goodness, or pedestrian fatalities would sky-rocket.  Are the reactions of my body “real?” Absolutely! We can measure the changes in my pulse or in my breathing. It’s my perception of danger that triggers the physiological reaction. Our preceptions are absolutely key to what happens in our lives.

What happens if I go around telling myself and everyone else I’m stressed? You bet. I feel more stressed! And the people I’m interacting with feel more stressed — because even though there’s a probability that I’m making up the danger, perceiving danger, I can still pass it along to everyone one around me — and I don’t even need to say a word. People can feel the stress reaction in others.

We’re putting the emphasis on the thing — stress — we don’t want. We may even be perceiving danger when there really isn’t any and magnifying it by our focus on it. What we want to focus on is what we want! If we want to be relaxed and at ease, we need to think about, talk about, practice, and feel being at ease.

Years ago, I learned how to relax while climbing the face of a rock cliff with nothing but 350 feet or air beneath me. The danger was only perceived as I was quite safely and competently roped up. Did I get tense and sweaty? You bet! But I knew that if I was going to make the move over the seeming abyss, I needed to relax. And so I learned. And you can learn, too. No matter what is “real” in your life or experience.

 Boy! I can cetainly run off once I get into it, can’t I? Just for today, no matter what happens, if you feel yourself starting to get stressed, take some slow deep breaths, really focusing on the act of breathing for 2 - 3 minutes and watch what happens. You’ll feel more relaxed. Another thing you might try is, when you catch yourself feeling stressed, gently remind yourself, “I choose to feel relaxed.”

What you think about and talk about comes about! Larry Winget taught me that years ago. It is a privilege to share that thought and these pages with you!

Enthusiastically, Rita