Another life changing book

I've just finished reading yet another book that has spurred me to make major changes in my life - Adrenaline and Stress by Dr Arch Hart*.

The thesis of the book is this:

• The body's adrenaline system is fantastic. It gets us going when we really need to react to something.
• But today's life is too fast and many of us have our adrenaline system turned on permanently.
• We get addicted to the adrenaline rush that comes with any positive challenge or negative crisis.
• We seek out more and more adrenaline rushes and find it impossible to relax and take the recovery time that is supposed to occur as part of the adrenaline system.
• This does damage to our body and will eventually lead to stress disease and burnout.
• People who are Type A personalities really need to slow down or they will die.

Hmmm.

Then I did the test for the Type A personality. You might have guessed that I fit it perfectly. It was almost like the whole book was describing me, so I think it's official: I am an adrenaline junkie!

This comes at a very interesting time for me. For several weeks now I have been dogged by constant fatigue. Even now, as I blog, I am feeling tired, headachey and shivery.

Looking back on the past few years, I think I have been engaging in non-stop adrenaline rushes. I've put a whole lot of energy into moving three times in four years, meeting lots of new people at different churches, working at one of the churches, supporting a husband through Bible college, having two babies, having a child start school, writing a book, starting and selling a small business, losing a lot of weight, and finally being worried about my autistic son, getting a diagnosis and finding out about therapies by myself, plus then doing said therapy...

It's no wonder I feel completely exhausted right now.

So the next few months are going to be time for recovery and re-thinking the manner in which I live my normal life so that I don't do what I said the Type A people do - ie. die.

Here's a question: should I stop the blog? I think I won't. But if you don't hear from me for a while, you know the reason!






* Christian American doctor and psychologist. He has just been on a speaking tour in Australia. My husband went to hear him with the church staff team and came home telling me how he needs to get more sleep. Funny... I've been telling him that for years. But then, he's been telling me for years that I need to slow down. Neither of us listens to the other!