For the past couple of weeks I found myself crying over my grades at night, starting unnecessary fights with my boyfriend and eating Taco Bell on the regular.
I felt like I had hit rock bottom.
My days were becoming darker and darker the more my classes got into the bulk of the curriculum. It seems like all of my conversations with my friends were becoming about how stressful school and our lives were becoming. I felt like I couldn’t escape the anxiety.
I decided to call my dad and tell him about my problem. He responded with “Sounds like you like stress.”
I was so confused about this statement. Who likes to worry themselves on purpose? Turns out, we all do and stress addiction is a real thing.
The Huffington Post has an article on the scientific process of how our brains respond to stress hormones and how it becomes addicted to the hormone, but here’s what you need to know: our brain releases a chemical when we get anxious that causes an adrenaline rush. Adrenaline releases endorphins and endorphins are a natural high we experience.
We’re getting addicted to a drug we create on our own.
It’s like your brain is Walter White and your blood stream is his methylamine factory. That’s a dramatic analogy but it’s essentially how the process of stress works in our body.
There is a way to wean your brain off this drug that we subconsciously love so much.
My dad gave me some good advice on how to cope with the stress I had been dealing with and it has worked so far.
Worrying essentially gets you nowhere, but for some reason we all feel like we’re accomplishing something when we do worry. So here’s a little advice from my father that may benefit all of you stress junkies:
Set aside a certain time each day for you to stress about something and when that time is up, you can no longer worry about whatever it is your brain desires. I chose to have my “stress sessions” between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m
I have been so much more productive since I stopped stressing out all day. Even when I feel like I should be more concerned with school or other issues, I know that I have two hours every day to think about it if I want.
It’s like leaving a therapy session—when you’re in a room with a psychologist you can vent all you want, but once you leave, it’s over. It’s the same idea with scheduling when you choose to worry. Once your time is up you have got to shut the negative thoughts off in your brain.
Take advantage of the power your mind has and control what thoughts enter your head throughout the day.
You will feel a lot less stressed when you know you have control over what you think about.
