The Enchanted Isle

[randy_byers]

I took another one of my trips out to La Push on the Olympic Peninsula, by way of Astoria, where I like to go to drink beer. It was good to get away from work, which has continued to be very stressful, but one of the things I unfortunately discovered is that my levels of anxiety continue to be very high after reaching catastrophic levels this past summer. One effect was that I wasn't able to do much hiking, because heavy exertion just seemed to amp up my nervous system. Very weird, because I would've expected it to be a release, but it seemed to have the opposite effect.

In any event, I did hike down Rialto Beach one day and spent some time sitting in the sun, which felt great. That's where I captured the picture above -- one of those storybook images the Olympic National Forest is so adept at presenting. The weather was unexpectedly sunny Sunday through Wednesday, but then on Thursday a storm blew in and dumped a ton of rain -- so much water that the river flooded, trapping me at the resort for an extra day. Although it threw me off my stride a bit having to juggle my plans, I wasn't too upset by having another day to read and lollygag.

Now I need to figure out how to get my stress levels under control. I actually don't think the causes of stress in my life right now are nearly as bad as they were in August, so I'm a little confused to find myself feeling so anxious. I suspect my nervous system still hasn't fully recovered from the earlier overload.

Comments

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

Good luck on the stress and anxiety front. Figuring that stuff out can be complicated. Your suspicion makes sense; it takes a long time for a body to figure out that things are okay/manageable after periods of time when they haven't been.

Gorgeous photo.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Geri. Part of what's confusing is that all of the obvious symptoms I was experiencing in August and September, including the strange disconnected sensation that would occasionally require me to do some deep breathing to get back to normal, have completely disappeared. I really had no clue that all was not well, and I'd even gotten back into a routine of physical exercise that I was feeling very pleased with myself about. I thought I was a fit as a fiddle again, or at least as fit as a 55 year old fiddle.

[kproche.livejournal.com]

Are you taking any allergy medications? Those can have some "interesting" side effects that tie into breathing and stress.

It wasn't until a prescription drug containing pseudephedrine triggered a full-on panic attack for me that I put two and two together, that I'm one of the lucky people subject to the less common amphetamine reactions from it. I can use it for short periods, but have to be mindful of what it does to my brain chemistry while taking it. (And, worse luck, the alternatives don't actually relieve the symptoms the pe treats, so I'm stuck with it or "exploding head" sinuses when they flare up)

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Yuck, that sounds horrible! What a choice to have to make. But no, I don't take allergy meds. In fact I'm not taking any prescription meds at all right now.

[kproche.livejournal.com]

I can tell you that *knowing* the weirdness is a medication side effect makes a tremendous difference in coping with it.

You already know this, but mindful breathing is your friend. My trainer has been making me focus on "breathing sideways" (expanding the ribs outwards rather than up and forward) as part of my regular warmup routine.

Some years ago when I was learning some stress-reduction techniques, I had a whole set of "soft belly" breathing exercises I had to do. The idea was that with the body image bombardment we experience (six-pack abs, etc) many of us who exercise for fitness get our diaphragms and breathing patterns into a constant "ready for action" state of tension. If you make an effort towards good posture, etc, while hiking, you might be triggering a subconscious "we need more air!" stress reaction.

I find the "sideways breathing" lets me get more air even when the central core muscles are working hard to hold me up (like in planks, pushups, etc). Those exercises tend to spike my heartrate out of proportion to the effort, and I finally figured it out was because of constrained breathing.

Just a thought to explore...

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

This is all great stuff. Thanks so much! I have been trying to work on my posture when I walk, so I'll pay more attention to this. Breathing sideways sounds like a technique to try, for sure.