Anyone who is dealing with chronic stress is aware that it’s no small matter to learn how to manage it. You have to understand what’s causing the stress and then find a way to handle it. One problem is that you probably have a certain resistance against letting go of your stress.

You need a certain amount of will power to make positive changes and not fall back into what’s become normal for you. It’s also very commonly confused with symptoms related to spinal injuries, as they manifest themselves in things like headaches, or to put it another way, are easily confused with stress. Of course, you can’t treat a spinal problem in the same way, so its a good idea to consult with a back specialist such as a chiropractic expert.

The very term ‘chronic stress’ gives you a clue about hard it can be to manage. This type of stress isn’t just tied to one event or person, but is often present in every area of your life. Even though it’s a stubborn problem, you have to believe that it can be overcome. It’s critical to have a positive frame of mind and also to change your behaviour when necessary. The right kinds of action will decrease how stress affects both your mind and your body. Stress is also related to your thoughts, and if you can change your thinking about something you can make it less bothersome to you. Many people have learned how to accomplish these things, and you can as well. When it comes to chronic stress, we want to make ourselves feel better whenever we feel bad. Finding a way to do this does not always lead to a healthy choice. Coming to terms with negative and possibly destructive habits can be very challenging. In fact, you can cause your mind and body to experience more stress when you try to abandon bad habits. So this is a personal call you have to make, and it comes down to making choices and decisions. The negative habits will go away much faster if you replace them with positive ones that you will even like better. Drink less and then get busy doing something positive, and that is how you can slowly replace the bad with the good.

Although we do form both good and bad habits, it is the unhealthy habits that catch us by surprise, forming without us even noticing. People sometimes develop unhealthy habits like eating junk food while watching TV. It could happen for five or ten years before they notice how bad things have become. That’s when you need to choose what you want to do or what is best for you. Your goal should be to make a positive change, one that is much more active than sitting in front of the television eating your favourite sweets. You don’t have to be an exercise junkie either. You can choose to do something like expand your mind by reading books, or taking a class or two. More than likely, managing chronic stress will not be easy because it is multifaceted, which will force you to do many different things to get out of this emotional and mental rut.

Learning how to manage chronic stress in an effective way takes real effort and commitment. The goal is to find something that you really like to do, and activity that takes your mind off of your daily stress. If you are able to choose the right activities, you will notice your stress reducing. You will be inspired as you make small successes, which will keep you going in the right direction.

Not many people have seen or heard much from me in the last twelve months or so. I took early retirement from the career I loved for so long because things just didn’t feel the same any more. Freya and I had done much soul searching, as neither of us felt ready to retire just yet, but it wasn’t really obvious what either of us really felt we could turn our attention to, let alone agree on!

If you’ve visited the website over the last year or so, you’ll know that we were all set to embark on investing in a Newcastle mobile phone shop, with the primary focus on consumer technology such as mobile phones and sim cards. Sadly, just as we were starting to get everything in line, I was carrying stock from the car into the house and the world literally stopped for me. I’d managed to damage my back, and (long story short) it took a long time to find out why I was in so much pain, and longer still (of course) to find my way to starting a journey to better health.

First and foremost, the NHS were great. My GP referred me straight to a specialist, and even though that took a couple of months to get started, once under way I had all manner of pokes and prods, resulting in massage, manipulation and what felt like everything else under the sun. Over time, it had become increasingly clear that things appeared to be getting worse, not better. I’d been warned that may be the impression initially, but the medical staff were starting to look as concerned as I was after the third or fourth session.

This carried on for a couple of months and it did settle down, but didn’t get anything like back to normal. A friend of mine introduced me to an American doctor who’d been seconded over on an exchange programme, from his normal job as a Fargo chiropractor from North Dakota. It appeared that I wasn’t actually helping myself. I was spending a lot of time horizontal, lying down in bed. Apparently, that can actually compound the problem, and while going to the gym and weight lifting is probably a bad idea with lower back pain, staying gently active can be an important element of recovery. He spent about fifteen minutes looking at things like how I was walking and bending, and a surprisingly short amount of time looking or feeling my back.

Incredibly, the only treatment I’ve needed to really head back to fitness is exercises that I do twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. From what I understand, the change in pain I experienced as I had the previous treatment was probably down to me walking oddly to compensate for the previous pain, and that may well have healed months ago. The real problems have come as a result of my actions since the injury, not from the injury itself! Once I got over that initial phase of special exercises to get moving, I transitioned to a home cross trainer that you can read about here.

I have to say, I’m a little surprised this wasn’t picked up sooner, but as we know, our health system is under immense pressure, so I’m just grateful to be able to get out and about again. It’s amazing how much you realise you take for granted normally when you can’t do it any more, like walking around the supermarket or walking to buy a newspaper in the morning. I’m not fully pain free yet, but very optimistic that the improvement will continue for another month or two and I’ll be back to firing on all cylinders.