We compartmentalized the stress and ongoing trauma, flattening it into something survivable, but we nonetheless ate it for breakfast, and lunch, and dinner. We swam in that stress. We slept in it. We swallowed it in gulps. We lived through it, and we told ourselves stories of resilience, because what other choice did we have.
But the body is bad at pretending. It keeps the damn score.
— Anne Helen Petersen, from “That’s a Stress Response. All the ways your body is (still) reactions to the pandemic.” (Culture Study, June 1, 2022)
Live & Learn 
We are now seeing delayed reactions to the pandemic. The body does remember!
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Yes!
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The stresses we suppress down, don’t get worked through, and they will accumulate in our bodies and our minds, and then, it all, comes, crumbling down, because our bodies and our minds, had had enough, and we will be found in the company of mental illnesses, or, physical health issues.
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Yes! Beautifully stated…
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and here’s the wind-up…and BAM – hit me in the heart, hit me between the eyes, and arguably a thousand other places within my body. Isn’t this the unforgiving truth…
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Laughing. Hit me the same way Mimi.
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oh, it knows, it knows….keeps perfect score
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Doesn’t it though!?!?!
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Yes, it does. At 59 my body feels 70. Not what I thought would happen when I was 28!
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Right! Are you feeling better?
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Have the virus from hell! It sure has helped my weight lose journey! I’m starting mend slowly, my body can’t take that much sickness and not able to eat! Thanks for asking.
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Have you read ‘The Body Keeps The Score’ by Dr. Van der Kolk? I haven’t finished it yet but from what I’ve read so far, it’s fantastic.
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No, but I’ve read 10-15 snippets. I need to add it to my list. Thank you Laila.
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Stress? What stress?
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I’ve been shocked/surprised/saddened/upended by the many ways the toll of these past few years has manifested itself in my life. ‘Murder will out’ as they say….
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“Murder will out.” I learned Something today Lori. I’ve never heard this expression. Thank you.
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Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
WOW!! Exactly … and I think we are still under stress and continue to be traumatized!! … Anne Helen Petersen, from “That’s a Stress Response. All the ways your body is (still) reactions to the pandemic.” (Culture Study, June 1, 2022).
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Just realized how COVID has given so many of us an avenue and the validation to connect to others and share our stress and anxiety. What if the pandemic was a messenger rather than a cause?
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Now that’s Something to Ponder!
Sent with a Spark
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Boy oh boy are these words so true. Resilience. Just a cover-up, isn’t it?
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Yes it is!
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And at such a huge cost that cover up
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So true. Best we let it out before it festers.
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