How Disease Changed the Way I Handle Stress

“The mind and body are not separate units, but one integrated system. How we act and what we think, eat, and feel are all related to our health.” –Bernie Siegel

At first, I thought the pain in my shoulder was a pinched nerve, and the raised bumps that suddenly appeared on my back were just another break out. I was staying in Athens, Greece, in the midst of a three-month backpacking trip with my boyfriend, and I figured I probably overexerted myself and neglected my skincare routine. But nothing I attempted could relieve these symptoms.

I tried to act as though everything was fine, but after we flew to Rome a few days later, I started running a low grade fever, and the burning sensation spread from my shoulder to my fingertips. A week after the initial symptoms appeared, I looked at my back in the mirror and realized that my “break out” was an angry, full-fledged rash.

Something was wrong. It was time to put my travels on the back burner and seek medical help.

After my appointment at a tourist medical clinic, I was diagnosed with shingles. At the age of 23, I didn’t even realize this was a possibility. But with the symptoms I was presenting and the pain I was experiencing, there was no denying that my diagnosis was accurate.

What followed was the most excruciating 72 hours of my entire life—and this is coming from a girl who woke up during a wisdom tooth extraction. I couldn’t sleep, I could barely eat, and if anything touched my skin, I burst into tears. My nervous system was on fire, and I could only stomach low-level pain meds like ibuprofen.

When the worst of my symptoms began to fade, I had only one thought: “I can never allow myself to go through this again.” I was young, active, and ate a healthy diet, so why had the virus flared up? I took advantage of all those hours in bed and began doing some research.

It All Comes Down to Stress

Some doctors believe this painful nerve disease can be brought on by stress. This is because the presence of the stress hormone, cortisol, weakens our immune systems, and the diminished immune response allows the virus to strike.

Between traveling to a new city every week, living in hostels, and trying to figure out what to do with my life when I returned home, I had been under immense physical and emotional stress for months—unknowingly, I made myself vulnerable to disease.

This experience proved to me that the mind-body connection is not just a New Age theory. Our mental, physical, and spiritual health always influence each other. Finishing my course of antivirals and pain meds was not enough—my healing process had just begun.

Finding Relief in the Mind and Body

Over the next few months, I turned to meditation, starting with just five minutes a day and gradually increasing to ten minutes twice a day. I also began attending a yoga class once a week and practicing on my own at home before bed each night.

Studies have shown that regularly practicing both meditation and yoga can help relieve stress, and I have definitely seen the positive effects in my own life. Spending a few minutes on my mat and following it up with meditation each night has also helped me sleep better—giving your body the rest it needs is essential if you want to reduce stress.

Getting into the habit of writing in a journal each morning has been invaluable. Instead of dwelling on my negative thoughts all day and allowing them to brew into anxiety, I express whatever I’m feeling in my journal shortly after waking up. This is one reason why journaling regularly had been shown to improve mental health.

Since both exercise and spending time in nature can be powerful stress relievers, I combined them both and began taking long walks outside—even on cold winter days! Getting out of my house and taking my dog for a walk on the beach always clears my head.

The scars from my shingles episode haven’t quite faded, and they serve as a reminder each day to prioritize both my mental and physical health. If stress brought you down in the past, you can take action today to stop it from happening again.

Jane Harkness is a freelance writer from New Jersey. Her writing has been published in Thought Catalog, Student Universe, Pink Pangea, and other digital platforms. She writes every day on Medium, and you can check out more of her work on her website.