Stress: Part 1

I have held jobs since the 80s and have worked full time since graduating from college back in 1992. I'm 44 years old - I'll save you the speculation and the math. Anyway, for the past ten years or so my job has carried with it a great deal of stress. It's important to note here that I wasn't/am not a doctor, soldier, air traffic controller, fire fighter or police officer. When I went to work I didn't exactly face life or death (my own or other people's) in the way that people in those professions do. Regardless I had a great deal of responsibility and faced daily numerous challenges front the small and annoying to full on what I would call disasters. From this I experienced a moderate (you be the judge when I describe the symptoms) stress.

Like I am sure many people do, I blamed almost every manifestation of stress on my job. The dialogue in my head went something like this.

1. I don't sleep well because I am stressed about work.

2. I make bad food choices because I am at work and feeling stressed or hard a hard day/week, etc.

3. I bite my nails because I am stressed from work.

4. My skin looks bad and doesn't glow like it should because I am stressed from work.

5. I will probably get cancer or some other disease due to the stress I feel from work.

And from the extra gross category:

6. I have a bald spot on the top of my head about he size of a nickel that I attribute to stress from work, No, I am not going to show you a picture. No, I have not been to the doctor but my hairdresser and I diagnosed it as being stress related and I will not be seeing the doctor about this due to concerns raised above in item 5. Finally, I style my hair in such a way that this spot is not visible.

So I wonder now that I won't be working will I be largely stress free? Will my skin glow like Kim Kardashian's skin? Will my nails and hair be thick and strong? Will I jump out of bed each morning with a smile after a solid 8 hours of interrupted sleep?

We will see. I wanted to share my "symptoms of stress" now while they are fresh in my mind. I'll keep you posted. I should add that after several weeks of not working I am writing this post at 1:40 a.m. I couldn't sleep!