Fire and Flow Blog

“I’ve gotta slow down!” How many times a day does this thought cross your mind? How quickly do you return to your to-do list of urgent priorities? In Richard O’Connor’s book, Perpetual Stress: The Missing Connection Between Depression, Anxiety and 21st Century Illness, he details the consequences of our pressurized, communication-fueled, overloaded lives. According to O’Connor, the constant onslaught of stressors and overwhelming information coursing through us creates a flood of stress hormones plus physical and neurological changes that are damaging us from the inside out.

It’s late Sunday afternoon, the sun is going down and it hits: you’ve been running full tilt all weekend getting things done, doing chores, driving kids, grocery shopping, socializing, meeting all those various have-to’s / got-to’s and “pow” it’s over. The whole weekend is gone. What looms before you now is your work week, with a whole different set of demands and deadlines. You’re not rested or restored. Far from it, you’re exhausted and regretting how you’ve used up your two precious days off. Many of those tasks may make your life a bit easier this week, however, you just can’t seem to catch a break or stop the frenzy.