The hormones of stress are highly addictive. They cause us to pick the worst thing in our future, emotionally embrace it and be prepared for it. Anything less, there’s a better chance of survival.

When you’re living with stress, you focus your attention on 3 things: your environment, body, and time.

• Does your environment often trigger the same thoughts and behaviours?
• Do you notice every symptom within your body?
• Does time dictate how you treat yourself?

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I have been addicted to stress for most of my life. I lived in the same environment until the age of 33, living in my childhood home in Canberra, Australia.

I spent my entire 20’s talking about how much I wanted to move to a new city, and I kept saying the same thing for 13 years but never doing anything about it. I was constantly gambling, binge eating and drinking, wanting to stop these toxic behaviour patterns but also craving the familiarity they gave me.

These toxic behaviours gave me a way to numb and avoid how I was really feeling, taking the edge off, but all that did was create a short term high. Then my lows took me into depression, a pattern that continued throughout my 20’s.

I no longer experience those thoughts, that make me feel those same emotions, that lead to the same toxic behaviours, because I’ve done the work and started allowing myself to embrace the unknown, rather than cling to the familiar. My body has become less reliant on the chemicals of stress, and more comfortable with possibility.

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Here are 7 signs you are addicted to stress:

You’re impatient

You often worry about something or someone, constantly thinking about every scenario in your head so you can be prepared.

You’re unable to focus

You often feel fatigued, perceiving the world around you as foggy, dreamlike/surreal.

You want control

You want to have control of everything/everyone in your life and don’t trust what’s unfamiliar.

You feel the pressure of time

It doesn’t matter how many hours in a day, there just doesn’t seem to be enough time for you. Whether it’s finding time for yourself, completing a task in hand, achieving a goal, as soon as you put a timeframe on it, you feel the pressure.

It’s never enough 

It doesn’t matter what you do or set out to achieve, it’s never enough for you. You’re often your own harshest critic, never praising or rewarding yourself for the little wins.

You focus on problems 

You often focus on why things aren’t working for you, and instead of taking responsibility you shift the blame onto others, your environment, or your circumstances.

You stick to what’s familiar 

Whether it’s your environment or people in your life, it doesn’t matter how unhealthy it is for you – you stick with it because it’s what you know and expect.