Are You Part of Corporate America's Addiction to Stress?

It's now 5 years since Corporate American and I parted ways and a friend recently made the observation that I was a lot more relaxed than when I had the corporate job. Which is true, when I worked for the corporation I was a poster child of a Stressed Out Individual;

• I was constantly moving from crisis to crisis

• I never took time off from work because I was 'too busy'

• People did NOT understand all the tasks I was responsible for

• And yet I was constantly haunted by the fear that I might lose my job

• I 'looked down' on the other people in the department that weren't as dedicated as I was

Sound like a Drama Queen/King that might be in your life? Have you ever thought that they might be addicted to stress like I was?

You never start out intending to be a Stress Addict or Drama Queen, there are usually mitigating circumstances. I'll admit my lack of self confidence played a big role in getting the cycle started. I came from a blue collar family and was the first to get a job in 'Corporate America'. Of course, I felt like a fraud and was convinced that management would figure out that I shouldn't be there and there would go that corporate job. My determination to make myself a valued member of the team resulted in long hours of work, which resulted in more assignments, which meant more hours at work....and so the cycle started. The more hours I put in at work, the more rushed I was in the rest of my life also. This is a pattern that can be found with many Stress Addicts, they have a lack of self-confidence or self-worth and in trying to prove to themselves that they do deserve what they've accomplished they overwork themselves into addiction.

And after the cycle had started and had gone on for a long time I didn't want to get out of it. When I started relaxing, going to a party, taking a vacation, even just sitting on the deck and reading a book resulted in feelings of anxiety. It just didn't feel 'right'.

I was so turned around mentally at that point in my life that I didn't think that the situation was wrong, I figured it must be something wrong with me. So I'd go to work, get stressed out, get the adrenaline pumping overtime and feel better. The more work I did, the more stressed I got, the more adrenaline got pumped, I was a total junkie and not able to see what I was doing to myself, my relationships and my health. I alienated everyone around me, I gained weight (226 pounds - I'm 5' 7"), I had trouble falling asleep and then staying asleep, I could feel my heart hammering in my chest at different times but figured, must be the caffeine that I chugged on a regular basis. I had trouble concentrating, I always felt jittery and nervous and had to get things done Right Now so I could go on to the next item on my list.

Any observations made to me about changes to my schedule or slowing down a bit fell on deaf ears, I Could Do It and show Everyone how capable I was. Still don't know who that 'Everyone' was but I am sure my Mother was on the list somewhere, some roots of stress addiction run pretty deep. I'm convinced now that if I had continued in my corporate ways I would probably not be here now to write this article. The physical effects of continual stress on people are becoming more well known and highly publicized. Your body is not designed to run on heightened levels of adrenaline on a continual basis. It's like running a motor at too high a speed for too long; it will burn out.

As I've slowed down and changed my lifestyle, I've read up on what I was doing to myself and it's pretty interesting how the body can adapt to situations like the one I was in. As I stated earlier the adrenaline overload from the stress was so familiar to me that when it was missing, it just felt wrong. That's because your body is so smart it can adjust it's reaction to repeated situations to feel normal.

When I watched the 'What The Bleep Do We Know?' movie in 2004, I was really interested in the sections where Dr. Candace Pert discussed how in the limbic system in the brain, the amygdala would send signals to the hypothalamus and adrenal gland which would then release peptides which flooded the body and affected its reactions to the situation it was in. The peptides that were released by the brain would interface with cells that had the correct receptors for them. Once the peptide had attached itself to the receptor, the peptide would deliver its chemical load to the cell which would enhance an emotion or trigger a response or an action.

Every cell has receptors on it and if you are habitually in the same emotional state, and by that I mean every day, then the cells will tend to develop more receptors for those particular peptides. So, just like any other addiction, as time goes on, you need a higher and/or continuous dose to achieve the same effect. When a stress addict tries to relax, they are denying their body the adrenalin dose that it has become accustomed to and they know it doesn't feel 'right'.

And here's the Catch 22 of it all. You've driven yourself into a stress addiction and you are your own supplier. When you get stressed, the adrenaline gets pumped and your physical need in the addiction is met. So your own body and mind are going work against you if you decide not to be a stress addict any longer. If you're a smoker you could use nicotine patches or gum to help you cut down on the physical addiction when you stop buying cigarettes. You can't just switch over to something else and not buy adrenaline.

I went through some major depressions and anxiety after leaving corporate America and, for the longest time, could not figure out what was going on. At first I thought it was just regret for no longer having the job. When I realized that I was going through an addiction withdrawal from the lifestyle that I had lived for 17 years I was able to start addressing the real cause.

Just as your mind helped you to start the cycle, it can help you to defuse it also. Most people don't notice that they are becoming stress addicts and will not admit they are one unless they receive a major wake-up call. And that's the first thing that stress addicts need to do is to become aware of what they're doing.

Let me say that again. Stress Addicts need to be aware. They need to be aware of their bodies reaction to certain situation, how they feel when people make requests of them and how they respond mentally and physically when they are alone and struggling to cope with everything that they have decided HAS to be done by them. I would find myself weeping at my office desk late at night at the mound of work that had to be done but couldn't see a way out. It wasn't that there was no way out, I refused to see what was in front of me and refused to ask for help that I badly needed.

Instead of asking for help or addressing why I was sitting at my desk crying, I would push it all away, take a deep breath and reaffirm my determination to get it all done as had been requested of me. I refused to be aware. And when you sublimate issues like that, it adds to the stress level as you work to keep it all bottled up. I was determined not to be aware and admit what was going on.

When I realized, finally, that I needed to address the issue, I found that meditation helped a lot. Meditation techniques tend to stimulate the pre-frontal cortex of the brain, when this section is more stimulated then the amygdala is less stimulated. Imaging techniques of the brain show less activity in the amygdala when the pre-frontal cortex is more active. Meditation also helps individuals concentrate on being aware of the moment and controlling their reaction to it. This places them in the thought process of not only avoiding the 'flight or fight' stress response from the amygdala but in determining why they are feeling that response to begin with.

Continual practise of either meditation, journaling or speaking with a therapist or mentor will defuse the stress addiction over time. These practises will help you to focus on the positive, empowering experiences that you want in your life. When you start focusing on what you do want, you will begin to move away from the situations that placed you in the 'flight or fight' response to begin with. And you don't want to get rid of all stress in your life, there are good kinds of stress as well as bad. Forming new emotional connections is a 'good' kind of stress that we can all use a bit more of.

Get up and exercise. It helps to kick off the recovery process for the body. After exercising, even a long walk, I always felt more clear in my mind. And having a strong, healthy body will help you to be more resilient to any stress reactions you may experience.

Just remember, it took you quite awhile to get into this situation, there's no magic pill that will make it go away overnight. It will take time and some effort on your part. There are lots of books and articles that have been written on the subjects of reducing stress in your life. Read them, follow the suggestions and just keep going in the direction of what you want. You'll find the right path to release the 'bad' stress from your life.

Five years later, I'm less than 200 pounds, I walk dogs and run errands for a living, I smile a lot more and my doctor is very pleased with the medical reports he's looking at now.