I caught myself NOT practicing what I preach a couple of weeks ago…

I was gearing up for the launch of my Beginner’s Guide to Gut Health course.

I was working from 6am to 7pm trying to get everything perfect. I had so much to do it felt like there wasn’t enough time in the day. I hardly gave myself time to eat, and self care was out the window.

I was stressed. I was stressed and doing nothing to manage it.

About four days of living in this stress ball, my health started changing.

My digestion slowed waaay down and I felt bloated and lethargic because of it. My skin broke out like crazy with blemishes all over and I had super dry skin. And my back, neck, and shoulders were so tense that no yin yoga pose would make them feel better.

My body was telling me to chill the F out and I wasn’t listening.

I white knuckled it through my launch and only when it was wrapping up did I take a deep breath.

Some of these health issues continued well into the following week as my body had to recuperate from what it endured.

As I was talking with a client last week about how stress affects our gut and ways to manage it, I felt a bit like a fraud.

I always love diving into helping my clients manage stress because it plays a big role in how our gut, digestion, and body work. If we are stressed, our digestion shuts down, backing us up, making us lethargic, and damaging our gut. It’s an important topic to cover with my clients working on healing their gut and, frankly, I love seeing their lives change when they prioritize it.

As I was talking to my client about ways to manage her stress, I realized what a hypocrite I was. Generally, I do a pretty good job of incorporating daily routines to manage my stress. But the last two weeks? I’ve done zilch. I felt like such a fraud and it was the jolt I needed to get back on top of the stress situation.

I started with changing my stress story.

This is one of my favorite stress management tools to share with my clients. I find that I often am met with glazed over eyes when I talk about incorporating a meditation routine or prioritizing self care to manage stress. The busy moms and business women I support don’t always connect with those stress management tools.

But shifting our mindset to gratitude? That we can all do.

Here is how changing your stress story works….

1) Identify the stressful event

2) Tell yourself your stress story/worst case scenario (this usually happens naturally)

3) What are your emotional responses to this scenario?

4) Make the change- Tell yourself your new stress story that includes a silver lining

5) What is your new emotional response to this new stress story?

 

Here is an example:

1) Stressful event- A launch/work event that has you working 12+ hours a day and is keeping you up at night.

2) Stress story- The launch will fail, I won’t make any money, and all of this hard work will be for nothing.

3) Emotional response- Fear, failure, anxiety

4) New stress story- No matter how many courses I sell, this will be a learning experience that I can use to improve upon for my next launch.

5) New emotional response-Gratitude, opportunity to learn

 

Studies have shown time and time again that focusing on gratitude daily is a common trait of the happiest and healthiest people on earth. Changing your stress story to focus on a silver lining and what about the situation you are grateful for is a great way to manage your stress and also add happiness to your life.

Think of a stressful situation you are working through right now (because no matter where we are, we all have stressors, always).

How can you change your stress story? Write it out in a word doc or on actual paper and see how you can change it to support you.

Practicing this consistently will be great for your gut, digestion, and overall health and happiness.

Enjoy!