Hello Friends! As I write this it’s incredibly sunny, but biting cold! Usually in a month’s time my sweet little ride; Miss Lily Jones will be on the road and scooting her cuteness around town, she brings me so much heart-warming joy. Our dogs look forward to swimming in the river and lazy sunny afternoons napping in a sunbeam. But they live a pretty stress free life, right?…or do they? Let’s talk about it… stress.
I became more aware of how good/excited stress affects all beings last week while taking them to the vet. Just a small jingle of the leash and they know something good is about to happen. Their adrenaline/excitement (stress) kicks into high gear and they can barely contain themselves. Tails wagging so hard the butt follows. What does this stress do? Is it even stress? There’s a lot of controversy about all the hormones (cortisol, dopamine etc.) we naturally create and how they affect us. We tend to associate the word ‘stress’ negatively, but I’ve been thinking that anything that tips the scale one direction or the other is indeed stress. It’s referred to as the ‘silent killer’ because we often don’t feel stressed, and yet we are. Our body manifests it in so many ways; headaches, insomnia, fatigue, moodiness, weight gain or loss and so much more.
So, back to our pups, they were so stoked to get in the truck, tongues lagging even though it wasn’t hot… stress indicator. I started to pay closer attention to their mannerisms; their energy was palpable and I began to feel their happy anxiousness too. After the nails were trimmed and a clean bill of health received, we headed home. In that very short span of time the lactic acid build up from the excitement took its’ toll and they were tuckered out as if I had taken them for a two-hour hike. Sure dogs sleep a lot, but this was interesting to witness, pretty much completely spent for several hours after. I’ve had dogs my entire life and never truly paid attention to what ‘good’ stress does to them. Perhaps because our puppy that is only eight months old (92 lbs now) is so big, it’s hard to ignore his behaviours, causing me to pause and be more aware. A friend of mine gets debilitating migraines if she gets too happy! Although that sounds impossible, it is 100% true; they bring her world to a halting stop. I’ll delicately compare her to our dogs… she’s a dog lover too, so I don’t think she’ll mind.
The over stimulation of a fun outing, meeting new humans and other animals was almost too much for our ‘puppy’. Sure it wasn’t harmful, and socialization is important; I was just left wondering how much we as humans ‘sugar coat’ our stresses. Laughter is medicine; it releases dopamine and endorphins, stress relieving, body-producing opiates! It’s kinda rad actually, but can it be too much? No way man… I’m hooked. Fill my cup! That feeling you get if you almost trip or drop something, a jolt of adrenaline (stress)… it can leave you feeling wiped out if that cup is close to empty. Start line excitement (stress)…if not tamed can suck the wind out of your sails really quick. It’s all about balance, and finding a soft place to land in this beautiful albeit stressful world we dance through. We need ways to release the cortisol building stress, and embrace the dopamine producing ‘stress’, all part of the wellness journey. Have fun exploring yours. It’s your life… it’s waiting… live it now!
