Thanks Lisa!

Love that, Jill, thank you for sharing!

That wise woman you speak of, Kathryn, sounds a lot like a woman counselor I went to years ago who poured out a bit of pop from her can for each stressful situation in my life and then shook her empty pop can at me and said "this is you, empty after everything else. You need to keep some 'pop' inside you so that you can function.'
Very similar to the burners on the stove. 🙂

Hi Jill, I think it's so important to role model this behavior for the next generation. Maybe if we can figure it out, and they learn to appreciate the ways the benefit from the changes within us, they stand a chance at avoiding stress-related disease so they can be productive well into their older years. A wise woman once told me, at one of the most stressful times of my life: "Everything that comprises your life is worthy of your attention, but you only have four burners on your stove, not twelve. And in reality you have one fewer, because if you don't keep the pot that contains your physical, emotional, and spiritual health simmering, you won't have enough energy to cook on the other three."

Haha so proud of you Kathleen for taking a quick break to read this! Your comment offers great optimism for your stress-reduced future.

You bring up a great point, Laura, in that humans are remarkably adaptable human beings. We can adapt to so many levels of pain that it can take someone to look at us in horror and say "What on earth are you doing to yourself?" for us to come to our WITS (see what I did there? 😉 )

I figure if I can't do something about it, do it.
If I can't, worrying only makes it worse.

Now I just have to figure out a way to recognize pain earlier...

Great reminder post, Kathryn. So true.