Stress Eating

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"Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad."

Proverbs 12:25, ESV

Personally, I go for something salty when I'm stressed. Maybe some Pretzels or Cheez-Its. Or even a good thin cracker. A salt block. You know.

Oh little Squirrel. Not him, nope. When he's stressed...straight for the trash. He doesn't do it often, but when he's feeling particularly off-kilter, nothing soothes him like shredding a used tissue all over the carpet.

Mmm, delicious.

This past week was demo day on my upstairs bathroom. We're still neck-deep in repairs for the leak that went through all three floors of my townhouse. I was not informed that Monday would be demo day - in fact, I didn't know anyone was coming at all until an hour before - or I would have made sure Squirrel was in doggy daycare. I would also have made myself scarce, as it turns out it's very hard to take Zoom meetings with a jackhammer-like noise in the room next to your office.

Squirrel and I sought solace in the basement, only to find that the contractors had set up giant fans to dry out the damaged storage room. In the end, the only quiet(ish) space was in my bedroom closet.

Needless to say, it was a long Monday.

Squirrel was a wreck. He hates loud noises, and noises that there is no escape from? Not great.

Thus, I could only be so mad at him when he shredded the bathroom trash all over the living room. Well, let's be honest: Mama was pretty mad. And tired. And stressed. And maxed. But I also fully understood why my usually obedient boy had a naughty day.

Stress does strange things to dogs and humans. I'm actually not much of a stress-eater. My vice is consuming anxious thoughts and words, replaying the concerning situation over and over in my head until I drive myself mad. I also tend to get hyper-organized. The last one has been giving me much grief as I watch my house get torn apart. Which makes me stressed. Which makes me need to clean and organize more. Which I can't because there is construction CRAP EVERYWHERE!

Ahem. Reigning it in now.

Isn't it funny how our coping mechanisms tend to be the things that make the situation worse? If Squirrel eats something that he shouldn't, he's now going to feel sick on top of feeling stressed. If I consume negative thoughts and increasingly implausible "what-if" scenarios, the stress will only increase.

Anxiety sure does weigh a person's heart down. There are aspects of anxiety - a racing heart rate, shaky hands, other physical reactions - that are usually out of our control. But there are parts that we can control and address.

If a good word makes a person glad and reduces anxiety, as the book of Proverbs says, then let's stop consuming the trash of anxious thoughts and fill ourselves with good words. And what better words than those of Jesus:

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." John 14:27, ESV