Synopsis
Grief is a common reason for people to self medicate with comfort food, drugs, and alcohol. Grieving in this manner will actually lower your life expectancy by 5 years. In life we know another storm will come. The proper way to deal with a brewing storm is to create resilience by building brain healthy habits “The best time to start healing from a crisis is before it starts.” Unhealthy coping mechanisms don’t end your pain, they prolong it.

Exercise – Reflect on how you typically deal with stress and grief. Does it serve your health or steal from it.
Response
I wouldn’t necessarily say that I use food to deal with stress. When I am stressed it is an excuse to run through the drive-thru. On super busy days the shortcut can be to go to Taco Bell. Once in a while this is fine. Its when I find myself there 4 plus times in a week…really 2 plus times in a week I know I’m just making excuses. Eating fast food creates a negative feedback loop that sucks me in. Thats why I try to avoid even once a week. Really I’m down to maybe once a month on hitting the drive thru. With grief I’m more likely to sleep too much. Having a set schedule to get up and walk in the morning helps me with this. I know that fresh air and nature will lessen my depression. When I make it a requirement and not a choice it also creates a positive feedback loop.
When dealing with the pain of grief and stress the best thing I have found is to deal with it. Confront it head on, process it, then let it go. By masking it with self medication it doesn’t go away, it maybe goes on a break, but it always returns. I learned this through yoga and/or stretching. Once I reached 25 years old I figured that after going on a run I would just be sore for the rest of the day. I was skipping the healthy habit of stretching. One of the reasons I skipped it is is painful, especially stretching sore muscles. What I learned is that by leaning into the pain it lessens and then it passes. I applied the same principle to my mental health by going to therapy. The pain gets worse before it gets better, but once it gets better it goes down to almost nothing.
In short if you are grieving or have chronic stress don’t self-medicate, your pain will not go away. Find a therapist and process your emotions.
Author – Brian Ahlering