Have you heard the story about the frog that died in a pot of boiling water?  He was alive when someone put him into a nice cool pot of water.  That person then put the pot on the stove, reassuring the frog that everything was going to be okay.  The frog trusted the person and didn’t think much of what was going on.  When the person turned on the stove, the frog didn’t notice much difference in the water’s temperature until it was too late and he had boiled to death.

What had happened?  Apparently with small adjustments in temperature, as the water got hotter and hotter, it got so hot it began boiling.  Because of the frog’s ability to adapt, it did not realize that the water go to such a hot temperature that the water’s temperature became unsurvivable.  The frog died from the heat even though it could have jumped out of the pot at any time and saved itself.

You’re the frog and the water represents the stress in your life.  Much like the frog, as humans, we are good at adapting to our changing environment.  What inevitably happens though as we get older and have more responsibilities, is that the pot of water we are in called “life”, can become increasingly pressured, and hot like the water.  Since it can happen gradually over a period of months and years, we simply take on more and more, thinking we can and are handling everything okay.  Until one day we wake up dead at the ripe young age of 50 because of a heart attack from all of the stress we put our bodies through.  Does this sound like you?

Today I want to talk to you about how to figure out if you’re under so much pressure in your life that you’re headed down a path of self-destruction, whether you realize it or not.  Today I want you to start examining your life as a pot of water and my goal is for you to pay attention to whether or not the water in your life is close to a boiling point without you even realizing it.  If you’re alive, which you are if you’re listening/reading to this, it is not too late to make changes to save yourself from yourself.  I still opine that stress is the number one killer of humans here in the western hemisphere and I believe being vigilant over our stress levels is even more important than being vigilant over our diet.

Without further ado, let’s see how hot the water is in your life before it’s too late.

PHYSICAL CHANGES

Your body is always trying to speak to you.  If you’re not attuned to your body you will miss the subtle, and then later, not so subtle cues your body is giving you.  The more stressed you are the more you will find your body changing until the effects are irreversible or have manifested in illnesses you can’t cure.

Skin and Hair

While you may not think you’re overly stressed, you may in fact be overly stressed if you find your body giving you subtle hints.  Subtle hints include things like your skin condition.  Do you find yourself getting pimples or other forms of acne even though you’re way out of your adolescent years?  Don’t ignore this.  Stress can trigger the right chemicals in your body which can cause acne regardless of your age.  If you think they are just temporary hormonal changes that will go away, while that may be true in certain instances, don’t overlook them by assuming it is that.  In fact, take a look at what is going on in your life or what started to go on before the acne flared up.  If you can identify something that triggered it, that thing is probably something stress related and you need to get rid of it!

I had a friend who had acne as a kid (join the club)!  It went away when he was about 19 years ago.  Fast forward twenty years later, at the ripe age of 39, he started getting acne again!  He was exercising regularly and also kept a very healthy diet free of fried foods and sugar.  Yet, there it was - big pimples popping up on his face.  He, like me,