With the second wave of Corona spreading like wildfire, the rising stress is palpable everywhere. 

Or perhaps, it won’t be wrong to say that the elevated stress levels haven’t had the opportunity to subside despite the COVID vaccines being made available. 

Our lives are still haywire despite it being more than a year since the pandemic hit us. 

Taking care of our health and emotional well-being should be a top priority but it is anything, but, for most of us.

The looming helplessness has only added fuel to fire.

 They say it’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back and so many of us can relate to that.

That complete ambush of emotion about something that would feel minuscule in isolation.

The onslaught of frustration over something that ordinarily wouldn’t make us flutter an eyelash.

And that heavyweight of an annoyance that typically wouldn’t register.

The ‘straws’.

The reason the straws are the thing to crush us, is often because we’re putting up with a lot of different stuff and they’re compounding.

Layer upon layer upon layer of stuff that we’ve put up with.

Those aches, pains, niggles that we haven’t made appointments for.

Perhaps lousy behaviour from others has become the ‘norm’.

All of the times we’ve prioritised other people’s ‘yeses’, leaving no room for our own.

Holey, fraying, chipped, taped together slippers/glasses/mugs/self-respect/self-worth.

These things can make us feel lost, as though we’re not sure who we really are anymore.

We put up with these things because sometimes fear looms large.

Because our brains don’t like change (they’re wired to like what’s familiar) and so, the known becomes more comfortable than the unknown.

Because asserting our boundaries can be exhausting, and we’re already tired, thank you very much.

Because we don’t feel worthy.

And so we put it all off until the straw breaks us a little. 

Maybe not for long, but we all know when it’s happened as there’s that sense that we might have blown something out of proportion.

But if anything, we’ve done the complete opposite.

Our reaction to those ‘straws’, isn’t a reaction to just those ‘straws’, it’s a build-up of emotion relating to the whole chaos. Just a delayed reaction to it. The pain point.

The trouble is, when we get to that point, it can be overwhelming to have all of those things we’ve put up with, looming over us. It feels as though ev-ery-thing needs action/dealing with/a conversation about/upgrading.

It’s too much.

It’s frightening.

It makes us want to hide in a blanket fort.

Can you think of something relatively small that you’re putting up with?

Something that you might do/address/change in the coming days so that your actions speak louder than those pesky thoughts that tell you that you’re undeserving, unworthy, and a pain?

Because you’re none of those things.

You deserve better than the things you’re putting up with (and that’s a promise we can keep).

And you might not believe it yet which is why we’re choosing the tiniest thing, the micro-actions, the not-too-intimidating thing to do.

All of those not-too-intimidating things build up, they also help our confidence to build, and our resilience. And we don’t know about you, but we could definitely do with some more of that.

Before your mind conjures up the glorious, “BUT my condition isn’t too bad…” excuse, let me warn you, every camel (whose back was broken with a straw) thought the same too. 

This is the time to take a closer look at ourselves, at our life, at our health and honestly note the areas that need restoration, help, repair and rest. 

No area of our life is too small to care for. 

No aspect of our well-being is worth negligence. 

The best time to care, repair and restore health is always NOW because tomorrow might be too late. 

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If building a Healthy Life and getting leaner, healthier and calmer is your goal, I’d like to invite you to get started at reconnecting your mind, body and soul by taking up the Healthy You Challenge.

Trust the timing of your life and get started on losing your physical and mental weight to create a lighter, brighter and healthier existence. Apply to work one-on-one with me in my personal coaching program. For more information please click here.