I want to tell you a story about a woman named Jane. Jane was a high-energy entrepreneur in her 50’s.
Jane was very proud of her accomplishments. She had a successful business, worked long hours and wore her busyness as a badge of honor.
For years Jane would come home from work, open a bottle of wine and drink a glass as she hurriedly made dinner. She said it helped her transition from her busy workday and take the edge off. That glass of wine would be followed more wine at dinner.
Then one day as Jane was driving home from work lost in her thoughts, she began to cry. She was crying so hard she had to pull her car over.
As Jane was blowing her nose and trying to get it together, she realized that she felt emotionally drained and very, very tired. She admitted to herself that she wasn’t fully feeling the experiences of her life.
So, when Jane got home that night, instead of hurriedly starting dinner and opening a bottle of wine, she boiled some water and made a pot of herb tea. She gave herself permission to slow down as she poured the boiling water over the tea leaves. Before she put the top on the pot, she took in the deep aroma of the tea and let her senses open.
I know this sounds kind of woo-woo but guess what happened for Jane. As Jane opened her senses to the ritual of making tea, she realized she wasn’t winding down with the wine. She was numbing out.
Jane decided to stop playing victim to her busy life and make a few small changes to help her lower her stress.
She never gave herself any ultimatums. She just made one small change at a time. As she did that, she found she wasn’t feeling as anxious, her digestion got better, and overtime she lost some weight.
OK… now I want to tell you something about Jane…Jane was me.
It wasn’t Jane that started crying in her car, it was me. I’m the one that admitted I wasn’t winding down with wine, I was numbing out with it because my stress response system was on overdrive.
Now look, I’m not saying I’ve turned into a teetotaler. I still have a cocktail or two once or twice a week, but not every night.
If you are drinking a couple of glasses of wine every night to wind down, you might want to ask yourself how well your ritual of winding is serving you?
How do you transition from your busy day and wind down?
P.S. Stress is notorious for wreaking havoc with our metabolism and menopause symptoms. Instead of caving into stress, why not be prepared with a stress buster kit. Think of it like a survival preparedness kit or car emergency kit, but for your stress. Though you may want to personalize your own stress buster kit, click here for a list of the things I have in mine.
