I saw the sign and it opened up my eyes I saw the sign

Ace of Bass

In February I wrote a post about the importance of release. Little did I understand the impact this would have on my wellbeing. After I published the post I felt fantastic; I’d released something that had a hold on me for a long time. I’d learnt to let it go. However, I didn’t realise I was also starting to let go of something much more. I started to let go of the physical toll this had all taken.

This morning I was reminded of the 90s pop song “I Saw the Sign” by Ace of Bass. It got stuck in my head as I got myself ready for the day, cursing the fact I was presented with another physical sign of stress. I saw the sign a couple of weeks ago. I saw the sign last night. I saw the sign this morning and it opened up my eyes.

For ten years I have gone about my days with no awareness of my stress levels. I’ve been functioning at such a heightened level of stress for 10 years that I was unable to recall what “normal” felt like. However in the past month I’m starting to remember. I’ve felt stressed, overwhelmed and like there aren’t enough hours in the day to focus on what I need to do. This is showing up in physical symptoms now.

Whilst no one would advocate we feel stressed or overwhelmed at work, I am learning that these signs for me are good. It’s proof my body and brain are “normalising”…finally. I knew what my stress signs were before, I’d just forgotten them because they hadn’t appeared for so long.

In this modern world where we can’t survive a day without technology, stress is a normal part of life and we are constantly moving from one thing to the next, we must take time out to learn our signs. If we don’t learn our body’s signs of stress, monitor and respond to them, we’ll forget and continue on to the detriment of our health and wellbeing.

And of course, we’ll negatively impact our ability to learn and retain new knowledge and skills; or to recall our wisdom from years of practice.