My Body Is an Alien:
Why Fighting Stress Is So Important!

Stress. Inflammation. Chronic Inflammation. Autoimmune disease. Autoimmune disorder. Mary Kate Kopec. Love and Big Hugs!

My Body Is an Alien: Why fighting stress is so important!

When we’re stressed … it doesn’t matter what kind of stress … mental (ie pressures at work), emotional (ie feeling depressed), or physical (ie illness, injury) …

When we’re stressed our bodies respond by creating cortisol the primary “stress hormone.”

In our body’s “hormone making hierarchy” it will preferentially make cortisol BEFORE it will make other hormones we need … like estrogen and progesterone.

So when we are stressed, our bodies make cortisol instead of the hormones we need, which results in hormone imbalance … and hormone imbalance often results in SYMPTOMS (for a big ol’ list of possibilities, click here), many of which are unfun and uncomfortable, some of which can go unnoticed (which actually isn’t a good thing … cuz we have SYMPTOMS as our warning signs … it’s our bodies talking to us, trying to tell us things aren’t good … it’s our bodies trying to tell us we need to fix “it.”

With “it” … going back to the stress and the preferential cortisol production … but that often gets missed.  We often miss the stress as the underlying cause, cuz we like live with stress all the time and “do just fine.”  It must be something else.  … Well, it could be.

But honestly … if we’re living under stress all the time, we are not doing “just fine.”  Our bodies are yelling at us, but on we go.

Okay.  So that’s the first layer.  Yep … we’re gonna onion right now.

Stress. Inflammation. Chronic Inflammation. Autoimmune disease. Autoimmune disorder. Mary Kate Kopec. Love and Big Hugs! Stress. Inflammation. Chronic Inflammation. Autoimmune disease. Autoimmune disorder. Mary Kate Kopec. Love and Big Hugs!

So the first layer is stress of any kind promoting cortisol production instead of our needed estrogen and progesterone.  And this causes hormone imbalance, which causes unfun SYMPTOMS.

Stress. Inflammation. Chronic Inflammation. Autoimmune disease. Autoimmune disorder. Mary Kate Kopec. Love and Big Hugs!

Our second layer is when we experience prolonged stress (work, relationship, self-image, improper body weight, lack of movement in our bodies, toxicity in our foods, etc, etc, etc, … life), this prolonged stress results in prolonged production of cortisol … and this ain’t good.

Prolonged production of cortisol results in chronic inflammation.  And chronic inflammation leads to really uncool health challenges (aka, disease: cardiovascular disease, diabetes, the Big C, … to name a few).

Stress. Inflammation. Chronic Inflammation. Autoimmune disease. Autoimmune disorder. Mary Kate Kopec. Love and Big Hugs!

Right now, in the US, 60% of Americans suffer at least one chronic inflammation disease.  And 40% of those Americans suffer two or more.

25% of US women will die of cardiovascular disease.

And studies are now showing that 44% of millennials are already suffering at least one chronic disease.

There’s a rant built into the above statement for me … but I’ll leave it at the following:

Back to our onion.

Stress. Inflammation. Chronic Inflammation. Autoimmune disease. Autoimmune disorder. Mary Kate Kopec. Love and Big Hugs!

Layer three is … what happens when all that stress builds up … all that chronic inflammation goes unchecked … unhealed …

Well, for about 8 – 10% of Americans, it results in something called autoimmune disease.  An autoimmune disease is when the body can’t tell itself (or bits of itself) from an invader and it starts attacking itself.

Some examples of autoimmune disease you may have heard of:

  • Celiac disease
  • Hashimoto thyroiditis
  • Multiple sclerosis
  • Rheumatoid arthritis
  • Psoriasis/psoriatic arthritis
  • Inflammatory bowel disease

Okay … so here it is … the real ass kicker … 80% of the people who suffer from autoimmune disease are … you guessed it … WOMEN!!!

80%!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That, my sweet blossoms, is 100% an indicator letting us know that our hormones are playing a role.  It’s our estrogen and progesterone the differentiate us from men.

Stress. Inflammation. Chronic Inflammation. Autoimmune disease. Autoimmune disorder. Mary Kate Kopec. Love and Big Hugs!

Also … sucky note: once a person gets autoimmune disease, generally speaking, there is NO CURE.  Only doing your best to get and keep your body calmed and coping.  “Controlling the condition and symptoms” with a prioritized need to reduce inflammation and pain.

Stress. Inflammation. Chronic Inflammation. Autoimmune disease. Autoimmune disorder. Mary Kate Kopec. Love and Big Hugs!

Essentially, these 2 effects of persistent stress and elevated cortisol levels … living life … don’t just reside individually in women – sweet blossoms, they generally compound one another.

Stress. Inflammation. Chronic Inflammation. Autoimmune disease. Autoimmune disorder. Mary Kate Kopec. Love and Big Hugs!

Buuuuuuuuuuuut, so … you can stop autoimmune disease from happening, and you can help reverse chronic diseases … by guess what?

Dr. Amy Myers talks about autoimmune disease in great detail, with so much wellness to offer, in her book, The Autoimmune Solution.  In this book she talks about the “autoimmune spectrum.”

The autoimmune spectrum is essentially a path from no imflammation > some > mild > moderate > severe > and finally, achieved autoimmunity disorder.  Simply being a women, a beautiful blossom, even if you lived the cleanest, healthiest, best-est, non-toxic, zero-stress life, just being a blossom, puts you on this spectrum.

Add in all the stuff of your particular life … and well …

The bottom line … the one that leads to wellness … reduce our stress!

  • Sleep well
  • Eat organic, nutrient dense, whole foods – an anti-inflammatory diet – in all the colors of the rainbow
  • Drink plenty of water
  • Significantly reduce sugar in your diet, or eliminate it completely
  • Get movement into your body
  • Heal your gut (This one is super big and is interlaced over practically all of the other things listed here.)
  • Laugh and play
  • Spend time with people who you love and who love you
  • Breathe
  • Meditate
  • Color and create
  • Practice mindfulness
  • Let go and let be
  • Therapy
  • Sit in the sun

Find your groove.  What works for you.  The goal is to get stress down … A LOT!  As if your life depends on it.  Cuz, like your health does, and if your life relies on your health, then the math is simple.  Stress Reduction is Vital!!!

As an additional personal note and thought … I know stress can be hard to fight.  I know the lists are long, the to-do’s never ending.  There are days (I’ve managed to get it down to occasional lil bursts of time … a few hours, a day here or there), … there are times when my body just buzzes with the stress of everything.  I feel it in my chest.  My limbs.  My heart.  My bones.

My groove … what works for me … I tell myself the truth.  I’m stressed.  This stress is hurting me.  I need to love myself and take care of me, my mind, my body. … I need to calm down.  Find my peace again. …

I tell myself the truth … I need this moment in time to heal and cope and get well again.  Everything else can wait.  Everything else has to wait.

I have people depending on me … probably you have people depending on you, too … it can be easy to say, I’ll just push through until later … I HAVE to help these people who depend on me right now … except that the pushing through until later … later never seems to come.

Honestly, sweet blossom, you can’t help others after you fall.  The peeps can wait.  For 1 minute.  5 minutes.  … Take a day off here and there just for your rest and rejuvenation.  Whatever your groove is.  But find and grow your groove.  So you can get your stress down.

I also acknowledge that in order to get to a place in my life I had to reevaluate my values and change how I lived.  I had to reduce the stressy things on purpose.  Find and grow peace into my life with active choice.  Loving me.  Prioritizing me.

This was and is my groove.  You’ll find yours.  Only you can know.  But I hope in sharing mine, it might just be helpful love and encouragement, even some guiding ideas, to help you find yours.

 

Nourish to Flourish. Mary Kate Kopec. Love and Big Hugs!

Thank you for being here with me and sharing time!  I hope you are well!

I invite you take this quick moment to smile big, hug yourself, and take a nice, big, juicy breath in … let go … and let your breath out slowly.

Big Love and Big Hugs!

Love and Big Hugs Mary Kate

Arting it up for happiness and healthiness – color your stress away!

Arting It Up for happiness and healthiness: Color your stress away! Mary Kate Kopec. Love and Big Hugs

Hello Sparkling Sprites of Joy!

I’m so excited to talk to you today about THE something that has helped me calm my anxious nerves and tackle overwhelming stress more than anything else (except for Pauli’s hugs and soothing voice) … but he can’t be by me 24/7, and let’s be real … even heroes need a break now and again! :0)

So what do I do to calm myself, to relax, de-stress, and squelch the anxious voices and energy that can take me from peaceful to freaked out in zero to instantaneously?  I art it up!

I’m more of an anxious person (had my first full on panic attack when I was 11) than someone who gets stressed out.  But anxiety and the anxious, negative energy it produces creates physical and emotional stress … so even though it’s a different input for the stress, it’s still stress.  And blossoms, stress is B. A. D., baaaaaaddd!

Whatever form it comes in, stress is inflammatory, and chronic inflammation has been identified as a key player/root cause in many, many diseases and states of unwellness:  heart disease, type 2 diabetes, some cancers, ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, asthma, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis, just to name a few.  

So let me hit some highlights about chronic inflammation.  Don’t worry, I’m gonna zoom through here without scary scientific words just so we can be on the same page.

If there is a chronic inflammation, you might think there is likely an acute inflammation, and if so, you’d be right.  So what’s the difference?

In the big picture: acute inflammation is the body’s healthy response to injury and illness to help your body heal, and it only lasts for a little while.  Whereas, chronic inflammation is your body continuing its efforts to heal you for a long period of time (months to years), but the cause of the inflammation isn’t going away.  Too much of a good thing is not so good.  Too much inflammation actually hurts you.

inflammation happiness healthiness art therapy Mary Kate Kopec Love and Big Hugs

What kinds of things feed chronic inflammation?  Lots of things actually.  Poor diet, physical stress, mental stress, emotional stress, stress, stress, stress (stress is definitely a potent problem, cuz we all seem to have lots of it … lots of the time), … additionally, things like food allergies, environmental toxins (i.e., even the chemicals in your shampoo can be inflammatory), lack of exercise, bad/unhealthy habits, … you get the idea.

Are you with me when I say, healthiness impacts happiness, and happiness impacts healthiness?  I say this, because, if you’re not healthy, you don’t feel well, and when you don’t feel well, it’s harder to feel happy.  Likewise, when you are unhappy, it’s a form of stress, and stress leads to inflammation, and inflammation leads to unhealthiness.

Ideally … (insert as many LOLs as you need to here for this next statement, cuz I know it’s hard to achieve) … ideally, we achieve a balance in our lives, so we can glow radiantly.

In reality, it’s normal to have some low level of chronic inflammation … it kind of goes along with living.  Normal-ish/ideal looks a bit like this:

inflammation happiness healthiness art therapy Mary Kate Kopec Love and Big Hugs

But it’s when we get a multitude of factors that build up and feed our chronic inflammation, that things get mucky.  Our level of chronic inflammation goes up and up and up and our beautiful balance of health and happiness gets squashed, and that can look like this:

inflammation happiness healthiness art therapy Mary Kate Kopec Love and Big Hugs

Given that I’ve been dealing with chronic illness for about 5 years now (to include chronic fatigue), I have been growing and growing and growing my awareness and knowledge about my body and my health, trying hard to heal, and living an anti-inflammatory life to the best of my ability.  Mind you, I’m not perfect … but I have learned a lot, and I’ve made a ton of changes that have been helping me tremendously!

But for fun, just between you and me … I still eat dessert, almost daily.  Sugar is super inflammatory … like super duper … but a girl should get at least a little bit of chocolate fun most days, right?!!!!

So what do I do to help reduce the inflammation in my life?  Well, I actively live a life where I try to reduce all the factors that promote inflammation, or as many as possible.  And my anxiety is a bit of challenge.  LOL, a bit of challenge? It’s often a BIG challenge.

I did a lot of reading, and I learned that being creative and arting it up … even coloring … any kind of art, whether you are good or bad at it, doesn’t matter.  It all helps.  So I started drawing and coloring.  And lo and behold, I found what I read to be true!  When you art it up, it redirects your thinking and your attention away from the anxious thoughts and the stress crawling up your spine.  Well, … yes, please.  I hate feeling anxious, and when I sit down to color or draw or doodle or whatever, it takes my mind off of the scary thoughts and my anxiety and stress levels come way down, even all the way down.

So … for you.  Today, I’m giving you one of my squee-doodles to print off right now and color.  Give it a try.  Take 5 minutes and see if you relax a little.  Or even a lot.  

Arting It Up Happier and Healthier Color Page Mary Kate Kopec Love and Big Hugs get button

I’ve talked to my girlfriends who have tried the adult coloring books, and what I hear a lot is that they actually get stressed, because they try to do all the coloring, but the pictures are so large, and the details are so fine, they get stressed trying to make time to finish the picture (which defeats the purpose)

If this is you, then you’ll love my cutie patutie little color blocks.  They’re small, adorkable, filled with fun and happiness, POSitude, and they only take a little bit to color.  BUT, they give you a few minutes just to yourself (self-care), to color happiness and wellness into your body. 

You can take your self-care up a notch by doing calm breathing while you color.  And also, if you think about things that make you grateful while you color … or something you’ve done today that you feel good about … you reinforce yourself with positive, stress relieving reaffirmation.  And all of this, you dear lovely heart, is SO VERY GOOD for you and your happiness and healthiness!

I hope you enjoy your color page today!  It’s totally FREE and on me.

Ready to take my Arting It Up for Happiness and Healthiness: Color Me Happier 7 Day Challenge?

Arting It Up for Happiness and Healthiness Color Me Happier 7 Day Challenge Mary Kate Kopec Love and Big Hugs
Arting It Up for Happiness and Healthiness Color Me Happier 7 Day Challenge Mary Kate Kopec Love and Big Hugs

Each day support your healthiness with feeling less stress, less anxiety, more happiness and more positivity!

Easy, fun, happy, silly, adorable, and totally supporting you!

7 days of Love and Big Hugs!

Delightfully cheerful & colorful art will lift & brighten your smile!

11 loving, big hugging, and supporting pages include proven happier and healthier promoting strategies:

  • Smile-making, positivity-promoting, happy coloring blocks
  • Gratitude Acknowledgements
  • Self-acknowledgement Reaffirmations
  • Includes “how to get the most out of this challenge” intro page & a summary reflection page
Arting It Up for Happiness and Healthiness Color Me Happier 7 Day Challenge Mary Kate Kopec Love and Big Hugs get button

You can also check out my new ETSY shop!!!

Get Your POSitude On!

Feel happier! Supported! Loved! Hugged!

Bring brightness and goodness into your day, and into your life!

Get inspired every day with a deck of my new POSitude cards! Available in my Etsy shop. Check them out and learn more, now!

Promo Image of POSitude cards on Etsy

I’m so happy you are here! You make my day brighter, and I thank you for your love and totally PINK hearts and smiles!!! Wishing you a delightful day filled with kindness and hope!!!

Love and Big Hugs,

Love and Big Hugs Mary Kate
Arting It Up for happiness and healthiness: Color your stress away! Mary Kate Kopec. Love and Big Hugs