I'm not depressed but can't cope with stress at all, so what am I?

I ate a can of spinach.

I had a bex, a cup of tea, and a nice lie down.

I changed into Superman in a phone box.

No. I hit rock bottom, bounced but didn't break. Don't try this at home.

I had enough insight to realise I needed help. Thank Heaven. I tried to find a therapist that I felt comfortable with. I tried the medications the GP and the headshrinkers gave me.

There's a modern fable about a town on a cliffside. People would fall off the cliff and if they survived the ambulance would take them to hospital.

Then some bright spark said, "What if we put a sign at the top of the cliff that says 'Stop, Danger, Don't Fall Off The Cliff'?

The people laughed. But after a long time and many fatalities another bright spark said, "A sign would save money. All the ambulances we have are costing too much."

The people could understand money, and a sign was put up at the top of the cliff.

Hi coffeegirl,

Thanks for your post about breathing. Its the nuts and bolts, the simple effective little things that make the difference.

In a perfect world we would have stress relief taught in schools. Maybe its not that far away.

Heavens to Bettsy, there's a need for it.

As for this little black duck, I learnt to meditate uummmm when I was young and foolish. I just breathe, and its called a long word in another language - 'Anapanasati'. But its just breathing.

Human, It is perfectly normal to feel some level of stress, if you aren't stressing start paying attention to the world around you! When stress becomes a problem is when it overwhelms you to the point of not being able to do things at all. I see lots of coping stratagies all of which are awesome, but the key lies in finding your own tools that work amongst those amazing suggestions. One thing I have learnt to do is know my stress triggers, for example I am aware that being in large crowds where I have nothing to 'focus' on tends to freak me out. For example if I am on a crowded train going home I tend to freak out more than if I am going to work, the reason is on the way to work I am planning my day ahead where as coming home I am tired and not thinking of specifics so I notice people around me, noises become heightend, faces become threatening and I sometimes feel trapped. The way I get around it is to distract myself, some music is good or even a book on my phone, ahh Charles Darwin your work on Natural Selection has saved my poor brain many a time! So if you know where it is you get stressed or what situation, ie talking to your friend on the phone whiilst their partner is yealing, you can work around it, do the things you love to do but minismise exposure to the stressor. In the last example you might call your friend when you know their partner is at work. The stupid thing about stress is how self propigating it is, we stress about stress. Don't. I know it sounds silly but understanding the fact that stress is perfectly normal and that you have full persmission to stress lightens the load so damned much you are already in a better place to deal with it when it arrives 😄

Hi cherrycola,

This may be off topic but the song by the '60s band The Kinks has been going through my head.

"I met her downtown in old Soho where they drink champagne and it tastes just like cherry cola."

The song is "Lola", released in 1970.