11. My relationship with stress with Martha Smith

Ok, let’s play a little game. 

What is the first thing you think of when you think of the word…”stress?” For me it’s…the word… “tightness”… or the phrase, “too much on my plate.” Or the image of my son Matthew screaming at me at 6AM in the morning because he doesn’t “always want to put on new underwear!”. It’s that time I didn’t finish a report until the night before, staying up late to get it done. It’s this memory I have sitting in church, waiting to read a story to the congregation…It’s that time Matthew almost ran out into traffic just before then I grabbed his arm and reprimanded him too harshly in public. My shaking body as I hugged him tightly. It’s all the experiences connected back to the words, “conflict” and “busy” and “mistakes” and “being late.” 

For our guest, Martha Smith, it’s the word “childhood.” As you will hear she has a relationship with stress, and a unique one at that. I really love all the ways in which Martha relates back to the word stress in her story—a story that starts early on in life and continues today. 

As you listen, think about how stress might not have even been a word she’d use to describe her experience when she was young—an experience of constant vigilance and being on guard for the next stressful situation to come to pass…but it is now. Think to yourself, how did stress and the experience that comes with it impact Martha, how did it shape the internalized messages that led her down this path of perfectionism, and how her responses, behaviors, and actions changed over time, in a way that is truer to who she wants to be?  

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At the beginning of this episode I talk about an upcoming webinar called "Values-Driven Self-Care." In this webinar Jessica Zielske, another behavior analyst, and I talk to you about stress, the role it plays in our lives, and how we can reframe stress so that self-care is more than a reaction...it's an intentional way to live our values.

Join us on Monday, March 22nd at 4PM ET, or 7PM PT.

Register for this webinar or go to my website here.

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Martha and her baby brother

Martha at a weight lifting competition. If you listen to the ending audio, you’ll hear everyone cheering her on!

My guest, Martha Smith: a fellow Board Certified Behavior Analyst in Southern Maine. Check out her experiences in weight training on her Instagram handle @marth724

Martha and her borther, still as close as ever