Stress-A Fine Line Between Growth and Damage

Whether stress shows up as an emotional feeling (which has plenty of physiological activity connected to it), a physical demand or a communal conundrum it seems to always carry with it the opportunity to cut in either direction. We talk about stress as being ‘under stress’ and typically put that in the ‘bad’ or ‘not so good’ category but is this really true?

Stress is defined by nearly every source as having outside pressure put on a system or organism. Stress is a fact of life. It is an everyday reality and, in fact, it is so important to your growth that it has to be reckoned with in a smart manner. Trying to avoid stress is like trying to avoid any sense of forward motion. You can attempt to live in complete peace and harmony but these concepts literally get you no where if you actually want to have some forward movement in your life. Are peace and harmony important. Yes, of course. But, in order to grow and move forward in any area of life (or endeavor) stress is a key ingredient.

But how much is too much? That is the real question that needs to have an answer. I am not sure anyone truly knows for you as an individual but it is something worth experimenting with or at the very least contemplating.

Let’s start with a basic concept of stress on a muscle fiber. First off, your muscle fibers are different than mine in terms of what they can accomplish. What might be stressful for me to do (from a strength perspective) might be simple for you or vice versa. The point at which I stress my muscle fibers can only be ascertained at the point of failure. There is no other way to know. I suppose there may be some high tech measuring device that might be able to tell you the exact point before imminent muscle failure but that is entirely unhelpful as we don’t have one of those. I certainly do not and I assume that I don’t know a single person who actually owns and utilizes such a device. So, although the concept may be fun to imagine, it is in the end a vein imagination. The only other way to ascertain the amount of stress a muscle can take is by using it to the point of failure.

There is something very important about this concept. Physiologically speaking the muscle ‘knows’ it is time to improve when it comes across the limitation of failure. Your muscle does not want this to happen and so it adapts so that it doesn’t happen again. Now this isn’t always overnight but the trajectory of muscle growth always follows this pattern. It is used until failure and then the body adapts. This particular concept follows suit in all areas of life when it comes to stress.

If you do a google search on stress the general results will give you the idea that stress deals with what we feel because our lives are under too much pressure. Stress is felt when we have financial distress, relational distress, feeling inadequate, feeling overwhelmed and so much more. That kind of stress is largely out of control for most people and that is why it is such a huge topic of conversation and information overload. The problem with this is that not a single person can tell you how much is too much. There are charts and graphs and lists and more that help us see what typically causes the most stress or the least amount of stress. Moving, a divorce, losing a job etc. etc. etc. are all examples of what we consider high stress situations and ought to be avoided as much as is possible. But, is this actually true?

Just as the muscle fiber needs stress to grow and get stronger so all areas of life follow this same pattern. So, in the end too much stress for you may be a relative walk in the park for me or vice versa. It depends on how much we have grown through the stress and what tools we have either developed or have at our disposal to address added stressors when they are present in our lives. To understand this is not an easy task. For instance, I can’t always tell when I am under stress because I tend to ignore it. I am working on becoming more aware of this. Sometimes (as I am sure is not unique to myself) I am bombarded with messages from various sources all sharing the same basic thing with me. Right now the predominant message is to learn to embrace my dragons.

An internal dragon is something that hoards pain and hurt (past treasures that are very difficult to rid ourselves of) and when we become aware of those dragons something changes in us. When we learn to embrace those realities in our lives (which are stressors) we eventually are able to declaw and defang the dragon. When we do this long enough we can even take the fire right out of it and these parts of us that are always causing stress and variant behavioral patterns tend to become inert (or nearly so). It takes learning, understanding, openness and honesty with oneself to be able to not only face our dragons but embrace them as very important aspects of who we are. This may take a lifetime or may never happen fully but the more we are able to address these types of things the more tools we have to deal with those stressors. Those stressors then become an avenue for growth and life and beauty instead of death and destruction.

That is an extreme example but you can pick any category or topic and confront stress in similar manners. There are plenty of tools available and plenty of things to learn for you to address all of the stress in your life in all areas whether they have to do with physiological stress, emotional stress, circumstantial stress or relational stress. As with all things it boils down to a personal choice. Avoiding stress may be an answer for some things but it is much much better to learn how to grow through it and learn how to use stress as an avenue for growth…just as you know how to grow a muscle.

I personally started my own exploration of this topic of stress because I was curious as to how much stress certain areas of the body can handle under pressure when chemical and or biological processes exceed limits that the body can comfortably handle. There are stimulants and depressants both that put the body under stress. Of course, like all stress, what causes stress in my body is not the same as in yours. Other sources of biological stress may be toxins or over indulgence or, in some cases not likely in western culture, undernourishment. Since this area of conversation is large in an of itself I will try and keep my thoughts to a minimum while still addressing the issues at hand.

Stimulants such as caffeine and the like can be very beneficial in moderation (again according to your own body’s ability to handle them) for focus, energy (a feeling of energy not actually cellular energy) and, in some cases, endurance (because of various physiological reasons). I have always been a proponent of the ‘smart’ use of stimulants. In my opinion, it is not bad just because it is a stimulant. It actually can be quite good. But, and this is important, the mechanisms of stress and the principles of stress are still at play. Pushing the physiology to that perfect place where growth occurs is a good thing. Pushing it beyond can cause damage. The good news is you have a whole lot of leeway in experimenting with this…especially in regards to caffeine. It needs just a week or so of experimentation to figure out just how much stimulant stress is good for you.

Depressants are similar. This also causes stress on the system and you simply need to know how much. It has been shown that a slight bit of alcohol everyday is typically a bonus. Most people have a difficult time figuring that amount out so I think it is better to stay away from it for the most part. That is not a good universal answer but the levels of stress produced physiologically from alcohol are more hidden and therefore it is harder to ascertain just how much is good. It needs to stay small for most people and, as I said, perhaps trying to figure out just how much of this type of stress is good is just not worth it. In other words, the risks seem to often outweigh the rewards in this instance.

Toxins (including biological toxins such as bacteria, virals and/or fungi) are another interesting topic. They create stress. What tools do we have to address these? So many it makes me tired just thinking about it. So instead of writing much I will simply make a list of a handful of them:

•Use Aloe Vera Everyday to detoxify (possibly the best tool to combat toxic stress and help teach your body to be resilient to handle larger amounts of toxins)

•Fast regularly

•Keep your eliminatory avenues open and functioning properly (bowels, urinary tract, skin)

•Use a Zeolite supplement everyday for heavy metal toxicity

•Keep sugar consumption moderate or low and use supplements to aid in this process

•Exercise vigorously multiple times per week

•Eat clean whenever possible

•Take a high quality immune supplement everyday

•Take Vitamin D3 as a supplement everyday

There are, of course, many more things you can do for yourself but this is a good starting list to be able to combat the stress from toxins. It is interesting to think about the immune system and stress. When too much stress is put upon the immune system it ceases to function at excellent levels. But, just as everything else we talked about today, as the immune system is stressed (just to that perfect point) it improves.

We can think in terms of stressing muscles when it comes to every area of stress. It is good to find the perfect line before stress is damaging. Unfortunately not everything gives out at that line like a muscle fiber does. But, it is important to experiment and learn where that line is in every area of life. Stress can be, and is, good. Stress can be, and is, bad (when it is too much). We need to learn to use stress. We need to find tools to address stress. We need to learn how this most important element of growth can be harnessed for ultimate good.