When we are overstressed, we might not even feel the stress, as it masks itself under several symptoms, such as:

• 1. YOUR BODY IS IN PAIN.

We don’t listen to the whispers of the body until pain starts to scream. Under high stress levels, your body will start to break down. You can experience stomach issues, diarrhea, ulcers, tense muscles, chest pains and palpitations. You will get aches all over, arthritis will flare up, and even headaches will be screaming for your attention. Whenever you have pain in your body, become aware of it. Do not ignore the symptoms. Address what’s going on. It isn’t just stress management that helps you heal. Acceptance and awareness, that change is required, is the first step to deal with stress management.

• 2. YOU AREN’T SLEEPING WELL.

Any fluctuation in sleep patterns, either sleeping too much from exhaustion, or insomnia, needs to be addressed. Meditation, exercise and a healthy balance diet help with sleep issues. But, ultimately you need to find a root to the problem. Are you worrying too much at night? When you are sleeping, are you having nightmares? Our daily events get played out in the subconscious. Sleep, or lack of it, gets affected. Stress impedes a peaceful state of mind. Sleeping patterns do change with age and environmental factors, however, when you are overstressed, sleep is one of the first things that gets affected.

• 3. YOU HAVE WEIGHT FLUCTUATIONS.

Are you over eating or forgetting to eat? Stress will slow down your metabolism and you will gain weight. Change in appetite is a radar to our emotional and physical bodies and how we are being affected. If you are worrying and not addressing the issues, it can also find you losing weight quickly. When we are overstressed, cells do not get enough oxygen. Food is energy and what we put in the body is a sign of how we handle things. Are you eating too many sweets? Are you not eating enough? The body is a vehicle, and how we treat it is based on our mental capacity to deal with emotional issues.

• 4. YOU CAN’T STOP THINKING ABOUT WORK OR PROBLEMS.

If you can’t shut down work, finances, and other challenges for a while to find balance, stress has a hold of your life. Mark Twain said, “Worrying is like paying a debt you don’t owe.” You cannot find a solution until you detach from the problem. The excessive chit chat of worrying can escalate to cause psychological and physical problems. If you are constantly checking your phone, emails, and other forms of communication from work, it is time to really face what’s important in your life. Stress is suffocating you.

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