It’s often hard to come to terms with what’s really going on.
We think menopause is the cause of everything. Weight gain, inability to lose weight, hot flashes, belly bloat, anger… you name it.
That was what my client Jody thought.
Then we started working together. She realized the cause of all her menopause symptoms was something completely different…and she was totally addicted to it.
It wasn’t drugs, alcohol or food.
It was stress.
She had become so accustomed to high levels of stress that her central stress response system was in a constant state of activation. And when she didn’t have that amped up feeling, she would seek it out.
Her difficulty losing weight, night sweats, hot flashes, rage, insomnia, etc. were symptoms of her stress response system burning out, not menopause.
Women often tell me they work best under pressure, or they need to be busy.
This is how we end up contributing to our stress and playing right into it.
It may seem silly to think we can be addicted to something that makes us feel overwhelmed and downright miserable but it’s true.
When we react to a stress trigger our body releases a rush of hormones.
And we get so used to that feeling that we get dependent on it.
Which is why it’s so difficult to change the way we react to stress.
Stay tuned. Next week I’ll talk about some of the things Jody was doing to keep herself pumped up.