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This painful life - Intro

Writer's picture: Dr BahrouDr Bahrou

Today was the first day at a new school for my boys. They had been at their previous small Montessori school with a tight knit group of friends for the last four years. In the days and weeks leading up to today, they only expressed the usual back-to-school gripes, but surprisingly, no apparent additional anxiety.





Like any mom, I know them well. As we walked into their classrooms, I watched their little faces stiffen into masks of control with the barest flush on their cheeks. Their movements slowed as the stress of the unknown was suddenly thrust upon them; this was the moment. They bravely stowed their lunches in the assigned bins and went to find their seats. I tried hard to swallow around the planet-sized lump in my throat and fought the urge to save them from these first awkward days by taking them home with me for plan B: pancakes and home-school. I managed to save my tears for the drive home.


I have been thinking about them all day. I hope they are doing well. Even as I type these words, I can feel the tight squeeze in my chest that makes it a little harder to breathe. It won’t go away until I pick them up and hear about the day.


Today got me to thinking about anxiety, sadness, and stress. The feelings that my boys and I have around the new school transition are to be expected and hopefully short lived. Sometimes, anxiety is just situational. Sometimes sadness is normal grief. Sometimes, we don’t need to over diagnose our lives and our ups and downs. When we do make these diagnoses, we usually need to take into account why something is happening, how long it has been going on, and if it interferes with usual day to day function.


Increasingly as humans, we are exposed to long term, high levels of mental, emotional and physical stress. When we aren’t able to recover or find relief from a stressor, it takes it’s toll on our health.


The current cultural climate is demanding, especially for women. Work, career, health, fitness, fertility, motherhood – do it all, and do it all at the same time. Our high stress, burn-out inducing lifestyle creates:


· Depression

· Anxiety

· Chronic fatigue

· Chronic pain

· Obesity

· AND SO MANY MORE THINGS



To be continued… chronic stress and what it means for our health in the long term.

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