Head biting
I don’t know about you, but when I’m stressed you better not call me and try to sell me something or guilt me into giving my money to some cause I don’t care about.
Stress makes me a head biter. I often read about the effects of stress on my body…it makes me fat, my neck hurts and I catch every cold that someone coughs my way.
What we sometimes miss is how stress causes knee-jerk reactions. Either you are a fighter or a flighter. Flighters will shut down and check out. Fighters, like me, will bite the heads off of anyone who pops up.
Stress can be seen in sarcasm, micromanaging, second-guessing decisions, interrupting, abruptly ending conversations, and forgetting to be gracious to people just doing their jobs.
IF you find yourself doing these things, it’s time to take a breath, bring yourself back into the present moment and force yourself to smile. Smiling will actually enhance the flow of “happy chemicals” in the brain, counteracting the nasty adrenalin and cortisol causing the stress in your body.
If you really don’t feel like smiling, then at least find something to think about that will put your mind somewhere else for a moment, like looking at pictures of your last vacation, your pets or your children, unless that would stress you even more.
Keep a watch on your stress not just for the harmful effects on your body, but also on your relationships.
Marcia, I am a head biter, too!
I find the smiling exercise to be a proven benefit. I call it “lifting my apples.” I don’t make myself break into a toothy smile. I just take a deep breath, lift my cheeks, relax my forehead and gentle myself into a more pleasant attitude. I have had big burly men in my workshops who remember the “lift your apples” technique years later. It helps us take ourselves more lightly. And I need that. Often! Thanks for the reminder!
I run into stressful situations probably as often as the next person, but they usually only result in my head biting when either my blood sugar levels are low, I haven’t slept enough, or my hormone levels are screwed up at a certain time of the month. Heaven help the person trying to deal with me when all three come into alignment!
At these times I have to remind myself that there most likely is a physiological reason for my reaction, that eating some food or sleeping more will help me, and that the same situation a day earlier or later would see me in a much more positive light. This logical deduction
helps me to calm down.
The lack of food is a killer for me, too. Guess I should go eat breakfast!
I came back to the blog having just bitten a head. I am working through all the challenges Leah mentioned above, particularly hormonal. The progesterone cream should arrive any day now…will that help? Who knows. I wish I could call back the telemarketer who just called me and shine a little light on her day rather than a storm cloud of pretentious negative #$!% that was completely uncalled for. I am going to take myself for a walk, lift my apples and get over myself…I hope! Onward and upward in our quest to be our better selves!
Thanks for you honesty. I think I bite at least one head a day. I will set a goal for one a week and set an appointment to check my hormone level.