I've written previously (here & here) about grief and sadness and being okay with not being okay, but I thought I'd share with you something I wasn't expecting at all from all of my emotional mayhem...

I became incredibly anxious.

When I say incredibly anxious I mean outstandingly so to the point of doing nothing but crying and wanting a cup of tea and my bed and my heart rate to slow down. It felt as if there was a weight in my stomach, a vise on my head, and my thoughts raced around unstructured and frustrated.

I'm telling you this because it's not uncommon. These feelings of overwhelm and stress have become second nature to society, a pseudo-desire of hard work and progress if you will.

I'm telling you that's bull.

You can be successful, celebrated, and revered without stress or anxiety. It's not easy by any means, but it's worth putting in the effort.

Here are 5 things you might not know about how stress can affect your mind and body ...

1. You might be grinding your jaw or clenching it tightly.
When we are stressed, we tend to tense our muscles, like you would if someone were about to hit or punch you. That kind of tension is part of the natural fight or flight response. Tension caused by anxiety or stress is rarely relieved, meaning your entire body is in this constant clench. Cue sensitive teeth and painful chewing.

2. You might have stomach and intestine complications
The gang's all here in the form of indigestion, constipation, diarrhea, etc. Anxiety can make you feel jittery and high-strung, and while it's affecting your mental state and ability to breathe, it's making your belly just as jittery and high-strung, and it'll react by making you uncomfortably bloated or running to the bathroom every so often.

3. You might experience body aches like never before.
Like with excessive grinding of your jaw or clenching it tightly, the rest of your body is still doing that. It might feel like you've run a marathon or just done crossfit 10 times over even if you haven't left your bed. Your body is tightly wound at this point and making you aware of it all.

4. You might be sick more frequently.
When our bodies are on go-mode all of the time, our immune system cannot keep up. Most people suffering from anxiety or stress have difficulty sleeping or eating foods that boost their bodies health and these factors can wear down the body even more, making us susceptible to colds, flu and stomach bugs, and other germs our bodies would normally be capable of fighting off in good health.

5. You might have dull hair and skin or have more breakouts than before.
Stress and anxiety in our bodies release cortisol (the stress chemical, really). This can lead to an excess in oil production on our skin, so we can say helllooooo to breakouts. It can also lead hair to go into telogen phase where it is falling out easily. When we're not eating well or paying attention to our health, we're not getting the vitamins and nutrients our bodies need to survive and thrive.

How does that all relate to your life right now? Are you finding there are similarities? Differences? Variations on the theme? Making this post today, I was amazed at how one little word causes so much trauma in the body. But that list is no beuno!!!

Luckily, we have the control to turn anxiety around - most people think it lies in medicine and forgetting all about it (and for some that might work) - but almost always it comes with digging down to the deep, dark, root issues and spend a lot of time asking the hard questions: Why is this happening? What can I do? How is this affecting my life?

In other words, the winner of life (not that there is such a person) is not the most anxious who still manages to succeed. The winner is the person thriving without stress or anxiety and rocking a life of Great Vibes. You have the power to be the latter every single day.

It's time to tap into that power!

Cheers to Great Vibes!
Xx. Em

UP NEXT WEEK:: So I Have Anxiety, What Do I Do About It?

+ What is your experience with anxiety? Share in the comments below!

P.S. I don't know why the font is so small, babes! Technology, I swear ...

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Whether you're going back to school, helping your kids catch the bus, or eagerly awaiting the new fashions, fall is right around the corner and with it comes the nostalgia for cooler temps and a drive to hunker down, and get back to work. It's no surprise that I (Emily, here!) have headed back to school for my next semester filled with unfortunate adventures and countless hours of working. Teaching yoga five days a week, owning my own business, and going to school full time has definitely allowed me to fine-tune my ability to stay on top of work, so I thought I'd share my three no-fail tips with you. It's important to stay organized, keep a healthy time mentality, and make time for yourself. Let's get to it ...

Master list.

This piece of paper or a Word page or a folder in Evernote (more on my favorite apps to use later) has every single to-do item. Crazy right? Nope. It's life changing. Organize them into subheaders - i.e. dreams, home, work, etc - and start adding everything and anything under them. Writing down all of those "oh! I wish/need/could do that" will help with the endless cycle of what you need to get done, what you have gotten done, and what you hope to accomplish. I have a list that's several pages long but includes things I want to do ten years from now (like owning my own home - dream!).

Weekly list.

Your master list has been created. Do not and I repeat, do not, fold up that master list and start each day gawking at how much you want to do and how much you've yet to do. Que the failure. Instead, at the beginning of each week - Sundays work for most people - sit down with your master list and make your weekly to-do list. On this baby, include things like what immediately needs to get done, meals you want to have for the week, any exercise plans, social events, etc. Pull from your master list, but don't expect to get through it all in a week. Try to be realistic with what you can accomplish. If on your master list you have "Write a Book" but you've yet to write a single page, break it up into manageable pieces like, "research publication mediums, write bio, draft outline, etc". Small tasks allow for an undaunted approach to your goals.

Daily list.

This is where you take that weekly list and turn it into your daily task sheet. Take five minutes the night before to plan out your daily list. I use the 5-3-1 formula. Five big ticket tasks, 3 small steps, and one to two personal self-care items.

For example, my daily list two days ago looked like:

+ 5 Big-Ticket Items - draft Yoga for Basketball Philosophy outline, finalize and post Foods I Take to Wake: First Edition, meet with Beth and Mason, go to Class, and start Staying on Top of Work Post.

+ 3 Small Steps: emails - reply to the athletic trainer, email my past econ professor, and send my outline to Dana; purchase my textbook for German; purchase a gift.

+ Personal Self-care: take a Barre3 class and work on wall hanging - art project.

On this list you'll also see my meals for the day - or at least where I'm eating and at what time.

I love the thrill of crossing things out or checking things off, so by the end of the day, my list normally looks like a black hole - paper copy - or all green - online app. Cross it off your weekly list too! Annnnnd if you hit something on your master list, you guessed it, cross it off! You did it! Woohoo!

Every couple of weeks or every month, sit down and review your master list: cross off things you've missed, maybe take off items in which you no longer have interest, or add even more. It's a constant process, but one that keeps your life rooted in action rather than fear.

50 minutes of work followed by ten minutes of stretching your fingers, shaking your booty, checking out a cool blog, or sipping on some tea. Gauge your time frame of productive ability, and remember that each day is different. Some days, I operate on a 30/15 focus, while other days I can hammer out work at a 55/5 pace. It's amazing how when you listen to your mind's ability to focus, and don't force it to do anything crazy like work for three hours with only a five minute break, you can maximize productivity and cross off everything on your daily list.

So you've planned your life down to a T, and you've maximized productivity in the blocks you've allotted for yourself. It's time to make time for rest and self-care too. Without it, you get sick, fall back on work, lose your drive, and end up right where you began. Burning the candle on both ends might make a bright and beautiful light, but pretty soon the light fizzles out, and there isn't anything left.

Personal self-care items can be: read a book, call a friend, or take a bubble bath. They are meant as ways of rejuvenating your system.

Still don't think it's important? Imagine if you never rubbed the belly of a service dog or let them take a nap but made them work all of the time. Think they would be the loving, capable, and incredible animals we hear about or see every day? I certainly don't think so. Self-care = most important part.

And remember it's all a process! Some days it works amazingly, and other days you throw your plan to the wind, get under the covers, and watch four seasons of a great show on Netflix. It happens. But now you have the tools to get back on track.

So there you have it! My three, go-to tips for staying on top of work. I'm sure I'll be rereading my own words when I get too stressed to think, but that's life, eh? Just remember: