I don’t know about you, but I’ve had a pretty crazy couple of weeks with multiple exams and assignments due all around the same time, plus a bit of family stuff going on, as well as madly writing for a book proposal which is due in a couple of months’ time. So to say that I’ve been feeling a teensy, weensy bit stressed and overwhelmed is an understatement!

Have you ever felt this way?  Where you’re at a point of overwhelm that it almost paralyses you?

Well if you work shift work then I’m sure you have at some point in time, because it’s kind of similar to that feeling of working a string of early shifts in a row and trying to function on 4-5 hours of sleep a night AND keep it together!

It’s what we called overwhelm with a capital “O”!

You see, I had reached a point where I felt as though I had burnt my adrenal glands to a crisp with so many things on my plate (in addition to my University commitments) that I felt as though my head was spinning out of control.

And it was.

I was in a state of sympathetic nervous system dominance, otherwise known as the “Fight or Flight” response which is essentially our body’s built in survival mechanism which thousands of years ago – came in handy whenever our ancestors were getting chased by a wild boar.

Luckily for us, we rarely get to see a wild boar let alone be chased by one however those feelings of stress can be somewhat similar, and our body doesn’t know the difference between a real boar and a fake one. (more…)