Stress kills. Period. Stress, anxiety, worry, fear, panic… these sorts of things start as psychological or emotional discomforts, but end up manifesting as physical illnesses. Our bodies create symptoms as a red flag to our brains: “Whatever you are doing, STOP IT!!!”

Recently I told you I was waiting for a diagnosis, because I felt worse than I’d ever felt in my life. My blood work, chest X-rays, and EKG all came back squeaky clean. I’m fit as a fiddle (contrary to all probability, given my lifestyle). This was great news, but didn’t answer the question of why I felt like I was dying.

As it turns out, the answer seems to be… stress.

Posted in Life, Overcoming Challenges, anxiety, balance, inner peace, mental health, serenity 77 Comments »

This week I have the distinct pleasure of putting Vermont’s universal health care system to the test.

For a few weeks now, I haven’t felt exactly right. I can feel my heart beating harder than it should, my chest hurts, my cycles are all screwed up, and I feel like I’m breathing through a straw… at 10,000 feet above sea level.

For the record, I’m not usually a hypochondriac. In fact, I go to great lengths to avoid seeing anyone in the medical profession, for reasons I won’t get into right now. If anything, I have a tendency to downplay the significance of my symptoms. But I have a new theory that EVERYONE becomes a hypochondriac while waiting for a diagnosis. The degree of paranoia is directly related to the amount of time one has to wait.

Posted in Life, acceptance, anxiety 38 Comments »

It’s been a couple of weeks since my last Road to Freedom Update, so I figure we’re due for another one. I can’t say that too much has changed as a result of Jeff (my husband) quitting his job (our only income), because we’ve been in vacation mode since the first week of August. Now we’re home, back to real life… sort of.

However, there are three things I would like to mention:

1. Mortgage Status

– We ended up paying for August and September. After my conversation with the bank, I had the distinct impression that I should miss my payment since a) we have no job, and b)  the bank can’t help us until we are behind on payments.

Posted in Life, Road To Freedom Update, anxiety, choices, family 35 Comments »