Stress - is your body paying the price?    Stress – is your body paying the price?  I was reading an article about The Crown star Claire Foy for whom the stress of filming, motherhood, and the breakdown of her marriage left her with exhaustion and infection, necessitating six weeks off work.

If you are someone who pushes yourself through stressors, or find that too many things are happening at once, the stress can come out in physical symptoms such as fatigue, migraines, IBS, or a lowered immune system, amongst other things.

What’s your priority

The problem is that when self-care is so far down your list of priorities, you put yourself at risk of burnout (in Claire’s case) or breakdown.  It’s just too big a burden for the body to carry.

As Claire said “You can keep yourself going for a long time, and that’s what I have pretty much been doing since I gave birth.  My body has paid the price.”

When you push through for too long, trouble is not far away.  The inconvenient truth is that the longer you leave it, the longer it takes to recover.  Denial is no help at all and just puts you at greater risk.

Is this you?

Do you find yourself saying things like:

  • “I’ll be OK – I’m just going through this rough patch”
  • “It’s not surprising I’m tired but I’ll be OK”
  • “These IBS symptoms are getting worse”
  • “Not another migraine”
  • “When will this cold go away?”
  • “I haven’t got time to be ill now”

If so, and you are certainly not alone, please listen and ask yourself what you need to do to get yourself back into balance.  It isn’t always easy, but the alternative is far more difficult.

If you would like support (as an integrative coach and therapist, I specialise in stress resilience and wellness – you can’t separate them), do give me a call to see how I could help you, before your body decides for you – there is absolutely no obligation.  Do get in touch.  I can be reached on 0345 130 0854.

In the meantime, you may be interested in another article I wrote about the link between IBS and stress.