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– By Christopher Green
In the 21st century, it is predicted that stress and stress related illnesses such as depression and anxiety will become the biggest killers. Despite significant advances in housing, standards of living, quality of food, and medical science, the pressures all of us have to face in today’s world are as demanding as any pressures experienced by our predecessors. Why are these illnesses on the rise?
Why do some people become so ill through these illnesses that they can find it hard to function? Well, they sure don’t happen overnight! You don’t suddenly wake up one morning and feel stressed or depressed. It’s not like flicking on a light switch! And by the same rule, if you’re suffering, you can’t just wake up one morning, flick off the switch and say “Great, I’m better nöw.” Many people who don’t suffer from these illnesses often say to sufferers: “Come on, snap out of it.” If only it were so easy! Should anyone say this to you, please forgive them as it’s just a lack of understanding.
It’s very hard for people to understand how you’re feeling if they haven’t been there. The fact that these illnesses don’t suddenly happen means we can draw some parallels with illnesses such as heart diseases, some cancers and strokes; these illnesses don’t just suddenly happen either. If we look at heart disease, it’s often the result of damaging behaviors practiced over many years, behaviors such as smokïng, lack of exercise and a diet high in saturated fat. Strokes are a result of similar behaviors and cancers too, particularly heavy smokïng and drinking, as you know. So how do stressful illnesses such as stress, depression and anxiety compare? Stress is also the product of harmful mental habits and behaviors.
These habits and behaviors are developed and practiced over years -- since childhood in most cases. These are the mental processes that enable us to make sense of our lives and the circumstances we’re faced with. When we reach adulthood, we perform them automatically because we’ve learned these behaviors by repetition. Think of it like learning to drive a car. Initially, the skills required to control the vehicle need conscious thought. It seems really difficult, doesn’t it? But once we perform them for sufficient periods, we drive on auto-pilot. We master the required skills by repetition.
Here’s the key: if we eat healthy food, take regular exercise, cut out harmful behaviors such as smokïng and drinking, we improve our health and drastically reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer and strokes. We are repeating good habits, habits that will give our physical well being a huge boost. It’s exactly the same for stress. What’s important to understand is that not everyone becomes stressed or depressed -- even when tragic and traumatic circumstances happen to them. Just like people who lead a healthy lifestyle and avoid harmful habits and behaviors, people don’t become stressed or depressed because they have learned effective habits and behaviors that prevent stress from arising. This is very good news if you suffer from these illnesses. Just as we can learn habits and behaviors that cause us to become highly stressed, depressed or anxious, we can learn the habits and behaviors that stop these terrible illnesses in their tracks.
The more often we make use of them, we’ll soon begin to perform them automatically, and our mental health will benefit enormously. No more feeling stressed out. No more feeling unable to cope. No more anxiety and no more depression. EVER. I’m living proof of this. For five years, a series of traumatic events sent me spiraling into an anxiety-induced depression nightmare. I came out of it by learning the natural skills that starve these illnesses. The more I used them, the less anxious I became.
They’re nöw as natural to me as driving a car, and I’ve completely eradicated anxiety and depression from my life. You can do it too.
Copyright 2005 Christopher Green
About the Author:
Chris Green is the author of "Conquering Stress," a special program which will show you how to conquer stressful illnesses such as depression, anxiety, panic and worry permanently and without taking powerful drugs. For a FRËE e-course, please go to: http://www.conqueringstress.com
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