When Stress Steals Your Peace

When Stress Moves In

Hello friends. I want to take a detour from my Hashimoto's chronicle for a bit to talk about something that has been negatively affecting me for the past few weeks. Stress. Everyone deals with it at one time or another. For some, it comes and goes. For others, it becomes a constant companion. It affects you negatively whether you have an autoimmune disease or not. For those of us living with Hashimoto's and other autoimmune diseases, stress isn't just emotionally exhausting. It's a trigger that can turn manageable symptoms into overwhelming ones.

'People talk about stress like it's an emotion. It isn't.'

People talk about stress like it's an emotion. It isn't. Stress moves into your house. It follows you to bed. It wakes you before your alarm. It sits beside your coffee. It whispers that you'll never catch up. Stress is a killer of peace. It takes, and takes, and takes until you have no more to give. You end up with no sleep and an empty cup from which you cannot pour into the people and things that you love.

No one asks for stress. It doesn't knock. It simply walks in and makes itself at home. For me, stress has taken many forms over the past few weeks. It was the car that was supposed to get my daughter from point A to point B safely, until it decided that the side of the road was the best place to rest. Then it was the extended warranty company that decided that, even though we had a contract, they didn't have to uphold their end. It was one thing after another, each problem piling onto the last until they were all stacked together like a litter of puppies determined to nap in the same spot." 

'Overall, though, the worst thing they stole was my peace.'

When Peace Is Stolen

As happens often in life, just when I thought life was starting to calm down, stress took a battering ram to my front door, found a spot in front of the television, turned on its favorite sitcom, and popped some popcorn. Obviously, it wanted to move in. This stress monster took the form of a fraudster. A cowardly person who sits behind a computer, hides in the dark web, and takes what other people have earned. Not only did they try to steal thousands of dollars from me, but they also triggered my disease that I work so hard to make manageable. Overall, though, the worst thing they stole was my peace.

The stress monster never stopped talking. All day, it would keep telling me to check whether there were more unauthorized purchases. At night, it would wake me up constantly and tell me to check my phone for credit card alerts. I couldn't sleep, but in the rare times when I tumbled fitfully into an unrestful sleep, I had nightmares about thieves who had my phone number and address. They would arrive at my house to take everything that they could in all sorts of violent manners. I couldn't eat.

I spent hours on my computer trying to find the problem, fix it, change passwords and email addresses, and then I would move on to calling credit card companies, emailing major retailers, and trying to get them to stop deliveries (weirdly, they wouldn't). It was a never-ending cycle of the stress monster taking over my life. The sad part is it's not over, but I am managing the situation in a healthier manner.

Fighting Back

Stress had me in a never-ending panic. I was in constant fight-or-flight mode. Unfortunately for the scammer, I am not one to give in. One of my favorite sayings is, "Underestimate me; that will be fun." Even though my body wanted to lie down and give in, my brain was like, "Oh yeah, someone else has underestimated me. Let's go!" I have to say it hasn't been fun. Fighting overwhelming exhaustion and the scammer at the same time has been more draining than anything I can remember facing before. Every day I would pull myself out of bed and tell myself multiple times that outsmarting the scammer was worth more than another hour, or 8, of sleep. I had to force myself to eat because my body and brain needed fuel for the fight."

Finding Your Way Back

After a week or so of constant stress, I found that I started to win over the stress and the scammer. I finally realized I couldn't always control the source of the stress, but I could control how I responded to it. The scammer didn't deserve twenty-four hours of my day. They certainly didn't deserve every hour of my night. I started forcing myself to take measures to reduce the stress. Every night, I made sure to set aside time for a hot bath with relaxing, scented Epsom salts. I made sure to hydrate and forced myself to eat throughout the day. Some days I forced myself to walk away—out of the house and anywhere else so I wasn't constantly looking at my phone or my computer to check for new scammer activity. Eventually, my family and I took a long weekend trip just so I could get away from the heaviness home felt like, and try to find just a hint of joy again. It worked; I'm healing. My soul no longer hurts, and my entire self, while still tired, is getting through each day one moment at a time.

'Stress doesn't get to decide who we become.'

Stress will visit every one of us. For those of us with Hashimoto's, it may even unpack its bags. But stress doesn't get to decide who we become. We can ask for help. We can rest. We can pray. We can laugh. We can take a bath. We can hug our family. We can keep moving forward one small step at a time. Some days that step is huge. Some days it's simply getting out of bed. Both count.

When stress decides to move into your house and your life, make sure to take small moments to breathe and feel your emotions. Don't just lock them down; give them the space they deserve. Some stress will overwhelm you, and that's okay. Take it one day, one hour, one minute, or even one second at a time if you need to. Give yourself and your body grace. Spend time doing self-care. Because stress is inevitable. It doesn't always come from a scamming stress monster; sometimes it comes from the people we'd choose every single time. And that stress—the stress that comes from loving—is worth every moment.

Share your story or your favorite stress-relief strategies in the comments below. If you'd like to continue the conversation, subscribe or join our community. I'd love to walk this journey with you.

One step at a time.

One day at a time.

You're not walking this road alone.

With hope,

Chelle