photo by me

I am taking part in a study at the university being conducted by the health psychology department. It’s a weight study.

In this study, they are paying attention to caloric, fat, and fiber intake. We have to wear pedometers. We also have to pay attention to our stress levels.

So it asks what my stress level is for the day.

And I start to wonder – on whose scale? I’m always stressed. Always. I worry about everything. I always have. I even went to biofeedback therapy to learn how to calm myself down when feeling overwhelmed and stressed.

The problem with all of this is that I don’t know when I’ve reached that level of too much stress. Too much for me is probably major overload for others. I live with tight knots in my stomach and muscles that feel like they’re wound up and could spring any moment. I live with perpetual headaches.

It’s impossible not to have stress in my life – or any life for that matter, i think. And when you have major deadlines all of the time (and, really, with the type of job I have and the school load I have, it’s a major deadline at every turn), it’s really impossible not to have stress.

My stress level hovers around an 8 on a 10 scale, I think. Every day. Because I’m always stressed – and I don’t really have anything else to compare it to.

One of the things about this study is to assess our stress, to try to alleviate it, and to help us not be stress eaters (of which, I’m definitely one).

So what is my stress level? Really, I’m not sure. But I’ll take a guess.