Glorification of Stress & its Metabolic Impact

If you pride in “taking stress” or “having patience” in the face of wrongs, you are a Fool.

Stress Tolerance isn’t a trophy or a character trait to be glorified - it is a metabolic measurement.

A good metabolism helps you to absorb stress rather than collapse under it. It doesn’t allow cortisol to spike and keeps your nervous system in check.

What is Stress?

Stress isn’t limited to the emotional/mental sphere. It happens to the body when the metabolism can’t keep up with the expectations placed upon it.

Two people can have totally different outcomes of stress-

1. One combs through it logically, absorbs it, and moves on

2. The other gets overwhelmed

The difference is the level of metabolism they are functioning at.

Biologically, stress demands a chunk of energy from your body. When the body has enough energy production, it can overcome stress and be stimulated to do better in life through the experience.

But when the body can’t cope, it falls back to fight/flight response through - cortisol, inflammation, adrenaline, and habitual helplessness. That’s why we see that sometimes people are okay with being a victim of their situation, because that way they at least get some pity.

More pity → less accountability - and the cycle continues.

Energy fails → functions fail → structure fails (organs, tissues, bones)

Result?

Hair Loss, Depression, Anxiety, Gut Inflammation, Aging, Low Immunity, and so on.

Modern Trends point to two extremes - 

1. Eliminate Stress completely because it’s bad for you

2. Believes that Stress creates Character and builds Resiliance. It encourages extreme diet culture, fasting, cold plunges, “workaholism”, etc.

Both sides have lost the plot.

Life cannot be without ups and downs (causing stress), but neither does a person improve by storing stress.

Any living organism develops and grows in life through interaction with the environment, and forms its own principles and values based on experiences. Whether a provocation in life becomes a downward spiral or a chance for adaptation - that depends on the energy reserves available to the organism.

The goal isn’t “stress-free life” or “life on the edge”.

It’s to remove unnecessary stress so that the body has reserves for actual shitty situations in life.

Blue light exposure, poor sleep, poor diet, seed oils, information overload, no social interactions, pill-popping, no work on self, no knowledge about self, habit of ignoring emotional needs, amongst other - all leave a person drained and overstimulated, pressurizing the body to get defensive even in trivial situations.

But when the metabolism is cared for - good nutrition, natural light, warmth, movement, body healing herbs, community and friends, and so forth - the person becomes tougher. Challenges can be faced head-on without crumbling you.

This is training for Life. The gym has a limited scope because energy is also the mental and spiritual expansion of the body. So pick out the stress-causing things, work on metabolism, and introduce yourselves to positive challenges in life (like starting a new chapter) to boost self-esteem and ultimately live well.

Love,

Zitni Zun <3