Women & Stress

By DeAnna Hight, LCSW, RPT

DeAnna Hight, LCSW-PLLC

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Women & Stress

Roles

Women are like roses; they come in different shades and sizes and are found around the world. While they are certainly beautiful, there is so much more. Roses provide ingredients for cooking and folk healing; women provide that and so much more. Thus, women have an amazing ability to fill so many roles.

Obstacles

While self-care is essential, it tends to appear at the bottom of the list. Women often feel they are being selfish if they focus on themselves, especially if they cannot complete everything on their to-do list. While some accept that the list is a long-term and ongoing project, they are stressed with prioritizing the many tasks and having to choose between chores and relationships.

Symptoms

Just as roses are susceptible to pests and disease; women are susceptible to deteriorating health. More often than not, women complain of uncomfortable symptoms when in reality, they are stressed. The inability to meet all of life's demands is physically and emotionally taxing.

Preventative Care

Most women know the standard wellness ideas; however, the answer is much more involved. “There simply isn't enough time in the day, so I eat on the run, I sleep less, and I do exercise. I'm like the Energizer Bunny I never sit down.” The conversation continues, only to reflect feelings of guilt, shame, inadequacy, and judgment. Counseling is helpful, as it allows a safe place to vent vulnerable thoughts and feelings. It is proactive and solution focused.

Stress management is about having a sense of self, knowing who you are and what you stand for. A woman very dear to me shared that after her parents and husband were deceased and her children were grown, she felt lost. Her identity had always been about who she was to the important people in her life; she had never taken the opportunity to explore who she was as a woman.

Finally, men and women experience and manage stress differently. Women need to spend time with other women of all ages and in various stages of life. They need to be honest and real, with themselves and with other women. The grass is never really greener on the other side of the fence, it's just different. However, without self-care and honest relationships, we are left with crab grass and rose thorns.