Stress Management- You Can't Thrive On Without It!

If you find this post helpful learn more about Tami and her company, Thrive On Consulting, which helps families and individuals dealing with food allergies at www.thriveonconsulting.net

Dealing with food allergies means that you are dealing with stress.

There is rarely a moment of down time when you are dealing with food allergies.  The cooking, the planning, the constant thinking ahead so that you or your child can stay safe, can take its toll mentally. 

This week I am feeling particularly stressed.   About a week ago, I was feeling like I could breathe a little easier – we had made the transition back to school and the new teachers and the new plans seem to be going well.  Our extra curricular activities are squared away, with awareness and education communicated, Epi training done and plans in place for safe snacks.  Things seemed to be as good as they could be and then, I open my Facebook feed to learn not of one, but two, deaths of food allergic teens.  My heart breaks for these families, and my stress level once again sky rockets as we are once again reminded how serious food allergies can be and the devastating reality that food can kill.

I can’t eradicate the allergies and I can’t change the fact that I will have stress about them, but I can take steps to manage my stress – we all can and should so that whether you depend on yourself or someone depends on you to help manage food allergies you can Thrive On.

I am not a psychologist or therapist, but I am a Type A food allergy mom who has worked to keep my stress in check the better part of my life.  The three stress management ideas I suggest are not new or ground-breaking.  They are simple things that you can do starting right now to make this food allergy life more manageable.  These are ideas for how to take a step back to regain the strength needed to carry on our daily attempts to stay safe. 

I encourage you to do one, do all, find some other strategy – but most importantly remember that stress management is a critical part of thriving with food allergies. Small steps taken each day, week or month to manage your stress will go a long way to keep you mentally strong for all of the inherent stress-inducing moments life with food allergies brings.

Breathe

As simple as it sounds, and is, taking a deep breath can help in moments of stress.  Breathing is free, can be done anywhere, does not require special equipment or a great deal of time to have an immediate impact on your stress level.  Years ago, I bought the book Instant Calm by Paul Wilson.  It offers great strategies for relaxing your mind and body.  In the book, he details many strategies for finding calm and one of my favorites is Power Breathing:

Take a deep breath through your nostrils.  Do this without exertion – neither raising your shoulders or puffing out your chest.  Hold it for a second.  ‘Force’ the oxygen into the extremities of your body – your  hands, feet, skull.  Slowly breathe out , noisily, through your lips.  Repeat a few times.   As you breathe out feel the tension melting from your body into the floor.  As breathing becomes more automatic, concentrate on the tension passing from your body, through the soles of your feet if you are standing, or through the skin of your back (if you are reclining) into the floor.

                                                                                  Instant Calm pg. 69

Find a Food Allergy Friend

Unless you have a food allergy it is very hard to understand the true day-to-day reality – constant vigilance, constant food prep and planning, constant exposure to potentially life-threatening situations.  Finding support with other food allergy friends can be a real relief.  Being able to talk to someone else who experiences life in the same way can go a long way to help you feel less isolated or alone.  Sharing strategies and stories and successes is great, but also having someone to vent to when things don’t go as you had hoped can be cathartic as well.

Online groups and communities can be a good source of connection.  But, there is something to be said for direct personal contact.   See if there is a support group in your area, both FARE and FAACT offer resources to find or start a support group in your area.  Also, seek out other food allergy families at school or in your community or neighborhood – 1:13  children have a food allergy so they are out there!

Find an Escape

Take a mental break – do  something fun, relaxing or challenging and let yourself become immersed.  Hit the gym, go for a run or walk, knit, read, try one of those new adult coloring books that seem to be all the rage.  Find something that does not have to do with food.  Something you can lose yourself in, even if it is only for 30 minutes.  Meet up with or call a friend and talk about something other than food allergies.  As wonderful as it is to have food allergy friends to discuss everything food allergy with, it is equally important to have a friend that you can talk with about anything but food allergies.  I often find that somehow many of my conversations come back to food allergies.  Make a point to talk about anything but food allergies.  The escape will help you realize that there is more to your life than food allergies.

Stress is a part of life, and even more so when you are dealing with food allergies.  Taking steps to manage stress are so important to maintain your mental and physical wellbeing.

After a stressful week I am off to find an escape.  What will you do today to manage your stress?