Stress & Peace

I don’t recall a time when I’ve ever dealt well with stress. When I was younger, it looked like laughing when getting in trouble, walking away in the middle of a tough conversation, avoiding people when in conflict, and the list goes on. Now I handle myself better externally in those tough situations, but I still end up internalizing pretty much everything. While the outside may appear to be calm and in control, inside... not so much.

Stress comes in so many ways, and for me, a lot of it is not being in control (that’s a whole other post); stress comes with conflict, death, relationships, loneliness, everyday challenges (flat tires, messy roommates and whatnot). But if instead of internalizing my feelings, instead of pretending nothing affects me, if I allowed myself to grieve and feel and process life, perhaps the stress would not be so great.

And who am I kidding anyway. It’s not like the stress magically disappears when I internalize it. Rather, it comes out in migraines or aches and pains, or a weakened immune system because of lack of sleep. We were created to rid ourselves of stress, whether it’s by going through the process emotionally or ignoring it and forcing our bodies to expell it physically. One way or another…

Peace is not pretending life is ok when it’s not, or walking away from conflict instead of dealing with it. I think peace is trusting in something greater. Peace is giving up control to God, choosing to rest in Him instead of fighting.

Today I choose to start practicing peace again. The other way sucks.

Something to think about… do you ignore stress & hope it will magically disappear or do you choose peace?