Two weeks ago, my house flooded from heavy rain here in New Orleans.
It came on suddenly and without warning. I looked outside about 8:30 AM, by 9:30 AM this is what I saw.
Even though from the outside I was handling it with grace, inside, I was freaking out! My intellectual mind said, "No need to go off, just take a breath and wait for the water to recede so you can clean up."
My emotional self was saying,
So, yesterday when we had thunderstorms and the rain was coming down
pretty hard, I was triggered. Stress, anxiety, and fear crept in. I felt tightness in my neck and my stomach and my heart began to beat faster. I immediately started going into survival mode. And that is what happens a lot in life. Something from our past will trigger the stress and anxiety and trip us up from reaching our future goals. You run and hide instead of facing it and moving forward.
Three things I want to share with you to keep you from falling into the same old same old:
1. Breathe
Breath is life! The power of the breath is AMAZING! Especially when you are taking intentional breaths. Breathing exercises activate that part of our nervous system, the parasympathetic, that deals with homeostasis or balance.
2. Talk to Yourself
Sometimes you have to talk yourself into something, and sometimes you have to talk yourself out of something. In this case, I had to talk myself out of fear, anxiety and gloom and doom. I started saying, "I am safe. I am protected. The rain will stop."
Our words are powerful and can create our reality.
3. Walk Away Ren'e
This is something my mother used to tell me all the time. Some
times you have to walk away from a bad situation or being right smack in the middle of the thing that is triggering your stress. If you can't physically leave, you can shift your mindset and perspective so that it no longer affects you the same way. In my case, I had to walk away from the window watching the rainfall and the puddles rising. I had to have faith and believe the words I spoke to myself were true, "I am safe. I am protected."
Thankfully the rain stopped and my words became my reality. Life can come at you fast and unexpectedly. Trust me, I have to use my stress releasing strategies on a daily basis to keep it together and keep moving forward. But I'm thankful that I know. They say when you know better, you do better.
And I want you to know too. I want you to do better and have better and be better!
That's why I created the R & R Experience
Yours in Health and Harmony,
Dr. Michelle Clay is a speaker, two-time best-selling author & Holistic Physician specializing in the release and management of stress and its associated symptoms simply and naturally.
Through her company FREELIFE7, Dr. Michelle enhances lives by harmonizing all dimensions of wellness