Sometimes stress doesn’t just overwhelm us, it makes us forget who we are.
Stress can affect us in so many ways. It can disrupt our sleep, our eating habits, our ability to feel like ourselves, or even make it through the day. It limits our beliefs, attacks our core values, and tells us that we are not enough to make it through. It can cause or worsen anxiety, depression, helplessness, and a loss of hope that things can improve. It can make us forget who we are and how we shine. It can leave us feeling disconnected from ourselves, others, and the things that once brought us joy. Stress can make simple tasks feel overwhelming and can drain our energy, motivation, and hope. Over time, it can affect our minds, bodies, and souls, leaving us feeling worn down and exhausted. But stress does not have to define who we are.
Whatever area of life is causing distress right now, it can feel like it is completely overshadowing who you are. Whether it’s physical, financial, political, emotional, mental, stressors, or all of the above and more, it can feel like it just stops you right in your tracks, punches you in the gut, and you are down for the count. Those parts that you cannot see in yourself right now are not gone, they are still there even if you cannot feel or see them. You are still in there, you are still you, even if you do not feel fully you. It does not mean that whatever you have been through, or are currently going through, does not affect or change you, it does, but it does not destroy you.
We must believe that or we give up.
I came across this quote about hope on social media: “People speak of hope as if it is this delicate, ephemeral thing made of whispers and spider’s webs. It’s not. Hope has dirt on her face, blood on her knuckles, the grit of the cobblestones in her hair, and just spat out a tooth as she rises for another go” (Matthew @CrowsFault).
Hope is not an easy thing when the pressures and stressors feel so much bigger that we can handle, and sometimes we need to stay down for a bit before we get up again, but the hope is that we get back up for another go. When we get back up, we fight, we fight for who we are, the light we miss in us, and the things we hold dear.
Your story is not over yet; it cannot be because you are still here. You may be going through the worst chapter/chapters of your life, but I promise you that you are still in there. Remember, “The best parts of you are still in you. Even if you can’t see them” (from the Keep it Up, Cutie calendar). You might not be able to see those parts of you, or recognize them after what you have experienced, or you may feel they are so dim they can no longer shine through you. Please don’t stop believing you are in there, that you deserve to shine, that you can get up another time.
Remember, you are still in there, the best parts of you are still in you, and the light has been dimmed but not destroyed. With support, healthy coping skills, and intentional care, we can begin to reconnect with our strengths, remember our value, and rediscover the light within us that stress has tried to dim.
Hold tightly to these things and remember that you may have changed in some way, but nothing can take away all the different parts of you that make the whole puzzle that tis you. Maybe you feel like you have lost some pieces, or some pieces got damaged along the way, or some just do not fit anymore, remember you don’t need to force things that do not align with who you are now. You get to decide what puzzle pieces make up the whole you.
Distress tolerance is not distress elimination…
If you are ready for that journey, please contact us. We are here and want to walk alongside you through this part of your life journey.
