Stress Symptoms & Moving Forward

I went to the doctor’s today after having some trouble with my throat – this pain kept coming up on my left side of my throat by my Adam’s apple. Turns out both of my vocal chords are “exhausted” and there’s an inflammation on the left one. I’ve found quite interesting since I haven’t been teaching classes for a couple weeks now since school is now on winter break. No smoking and not much to drink – hmmm.

Also interesting, for being just (nearly) 31 years old, I’ve had quite a bit of reoccurring throat trouble - chronic bronchitis, cyst removal (parallel to my throat), tonsil removal, and often a horse voice after singing for 2 hours or so. Typically, if you’re speaking and singing properly, this shouldn’t be a problem. Unfortunately, the pain is getting more persistent. Hopefully the prescribed medication will do the trick – we’ll see after a week of time.

I’ve seen people have reoccurring problems in the same area – I’ve been somewhat curious about that. Is that area just weak, or what causes certain symptoms to manifest themselves? I’ve heard theories that connect emotional distress to physical symptoms. These kinds of theories can fall into speculation pretty quick, but I think there’s truth to it. Everyone knows that stress is bad for you, and can cause a large number of symptoms.

Perhaps my throat carries some tension from stress. Some people get neck or lower back pain, stiff shoulders, etc., perhaps physical manifestations occur differently without us consciously knowing about it.

2017 is already great, and I feel positive about it – however, there’s been a lot to think about lately. Thoughts about whether to stay here in Korea and what business would be like elsewhere. Taking care of my baby, providing an income, and taking care of myself has been a bit of a challenge to juggle. It’s an awesome experience and I would recommend being a dad to anyone who’s responsible and ready for that kind of commitment, but finding the right balance takes some time.

My goals of 2017 primarily revolve around getting healthier and smarter in specific areas. If I’m not able to take care of myself, then I’m not going to take care of my family well – even if I did give them more of my time, I wouldn’t be of much help emotionally. Goals we make for ourselves work best when they have an impact that is greater than ourselves. Even if we spend less time with others in order to work on ourselves, we would make the time we do spend with others of a higher quality.

Perhaps my stress is where I need to currently take time to shape, mold, and learn – so I suppose I shouldn’t sweat the lessons. Happy days don’t exactly mean growth, and bad days don’t mean we’re going backwards. Moving forward is the only practical option.

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