Bad stress is the stress we’re used to – it’s crippling and debilitating
We’ve talked about the Spectrum of Stress, the good to bad stress that we experience in this life. This is the spectrum our nervous systems go through when we face challenges in life.
In this post, we’re going to talk about bad stress. These are the states of Moderate and High Stress; the ones we’re used to talking about.
There are 2 types of Bad Stress that we experience in this life:
When our brains sense that we are not safe and need to be on guard, we are in the state of Hypervigilance. This is the state of Moderate Stress (or Distress).
This is where our nervous systems are unbalanced and overwhelmed. We feel like everything is too much, we can’t handle it and are close to flipping out of control.
In this state we’re physically on guard, alert, hearing and seeing every sound and sight. We’re also unable to focus on the task at hand.
Physiologically we may be experiencing an increased heart rate, faster breathing, sweaty palms, etc.
This is not a panic/anxiety attack, but the hypervigilant ramp up to one. When we think of stress, this is often the state we’re referring to. It’s the not ok’ness that we feel when things are getting out of control. Yet we’re still somehow able to manage life.
The outcome is that our bodies and minds are on alert and on edge. Everything is affecting us negatively, we’re sensitive to everything and we feel one problem away from blowing a gasket.
When our brains sense that we are not safe and need to be active, we are in the state of Fight, Flight or Freeze. This is the state of High Stress (or Anxiety).
This is where our nervous systems are unbalanced and in the state of survival. We’re experiencing a panic/anxiety attack, or PTSD trigger.
In this state we are physically hyperventilating, distracted and convinced the world is trying destroy us. We’ll do anything to stop the noise in front of us, so that we can be ok.
Physiologically we may be experiencing an even higher heart rate, even faster breathing and paler skin. This also comes with shortness of breath, tunnel vision, sweaty palms, upset stomach, loose bowels, etc.
We move into the state of High Stress for 2 reasons:
This is not the clinical diagnosis of Anxiety, but the anxious state of the nervous system to protect us from danger.
In the next post we’ll take a deep dive into the differences between Fight, Flight and Freeze. This will helps us understand the state of High Stress even more. From there we can find the right resources to help us get out of it.
Both kinds of bad stress, while difficult to live with, keep us safe, protected and alive in this world.
We’ll explore how that all works in later posts. For now, just know this:
This world is evil. Satan is always trying to steal, kill and destroy us. God designed us to have self-protective mechanisms imbedded inside of us. This keeps us alive in this world.
These states of bad stress aren’t helping us when we’re not in physical danger. However, they are there for a reason. God didn’t mess up in how He designed our brains. Satan just knows how to manipulate them to keep us stuck and stressed.
The way to come out of this bad stress is through mental health. This includes both knowledge of how it works and techniques to help rebalance it. These techniques are designed to bring our nervous systems back to Rest and Digest.
You can learn about mental health and use techniques to rebalance yours in the Membership here.
In the next post we’ll discuss the 3 different variations of High Stress, known as Fight, Flight and Freeze.
Here’s to coming back to the state of peace and rest, the peace of Jesus and the woman God designed you to be.
You deserve that ♥
– L aura
