The new normal of today’s world can feel stressful and out of control. I do know one of the things we can control is our breathing.
Back when I started my personal training business, I was thrilled to see it grow so rapidly, – good stress . But I also had a lot of personal stress building up in my life. With the recession of the early ’90’s, came a drop in my husband’s business, so I needed to push my business to grow to help support the family. In addition, my invalid mother-in-law moved in with us (for a year between independence and nursing home) and although we had visiting nurses and aides, I had to help with much of her day-to-day care. Then my father-in-law was hospitalized for several months and died, so I needed to be a huge support for my husband. And I had my daughter to take care of. I was trying to be all things to all people and suddenly one day as I was driving, I suddenly couldn’t feel my hand and feet, my lips felt numb and I felt like I was going to black ou. Not knowing what it was, I panicked and pulled into a police station. Later in the ER, after passing an EKG, the doctor said to me “I think you might have been hyperventilating.” I was furious! How could he accuse me of this! What did I have to be hyperventilating over! I was in control, I was taking care of everything. And then I began to cry. I realized that I had been putting everyone else first, and risking my health to do so. It was from that day forward that I began to practice having a balanced lifestyle. To learn how to breathe, how to pace myself, how to give myself down time, to say no, to fully realize what my priorities were. It was the beginning of learning sustained serenity.
ReInventing Your Life 
You must be logged in to post a comment.