15 Signs of Stress Symptoms Related to the Past

Life is a gift of learning and growing, collectively we all have something we could change or improve on in the future.

Our past very much impacts on the behaviours we play out towards ourselves and also our relationships. But crucially everything that we have experienced in life so far is recorded and stored deep within our subconscious mind. Even though that may sound like a good thing, many of our memories and experiences can have a hold over us if we haven’t dealt with the stress they presented to us during and after negative or traumatic experiences.

Emotions are our organic signalling system and should naturally move through us. But in order to avoid pain or vulnerability of what they represent, the fighter chooses to push their feelings away or to the back of their mind prolonging further manifested symptoms of stress. When this happens the crucial natural healing process is denied and the results are very detrimental to well-being and overall health.

In the practice of wingwave coaching the technique is based around letting go of stuck emotions and it’s done in a very gentle and organic way by enforcing the natural REM (rapid eye movement) process which is often affected during times of stress and trauma. REM sleep is our natural internal processing system and is extremely crucial to a healthy mind and body. This is why good natural sleep is so important.

Below are 15 signs that you may be experiencing stress symptoms from the past, and further down are some suggestions of what you can do: 

1. You find yourself recalling past memories frequently and dwelling on the “what ifs” and “buts”.
2. You experience fear at the thought of seeing someone or have anxiety about the future
3. You consistently feel sad and depressed
4. You get angry easily at things out of your control or related to other people
5. You feel overwhelming guilt or hold long drawn out grudges and burdens towards other people
6. You are in a constant loop of negative thinking
7. You frequently fall ill or feel pain in your body
8. You get consistently wound up by external factors or other people
9. You display detrimental behaviours such as emotional eating or abnormal alcohol consumption
10. You frequently cry or get recurrently upset
11. You find it hard to sleep at night
12. You feel extreme hatred towards someone
13. You get repeatedly jealous in your relationships
14. You constantly replay situations from the past in your mind and sometimes relive them as though they are happening in the present
15. You are aggressive and/or violent

Some of these signs are extreme and some may require professional help but generally we could all tick one or two off the list if we were really honest.

When I had depression, I felt many of those things above but the most important thing I learnt was that I needed to let go of my stuff. I have committed the last 20 years of my life to clearing out stuff I held in and it still continues today!

If anything on the above list resonates with you, write out the following: 

What I am angry about is……………………………………

What I am sad about is………………………………………..

I feel lonely because…………………………………………

I cry because……………………………………………………

I am not ready to let go of my anger because……………………………………..

I hate …………………………because……………………………………………………..

I get jealous because………………………………………………………

What I am annoyed about is …………………………………………………………………….

Continue with this theme until you can unravel your feelings and remember that as a wholesome and loving human being it’s important to invite your emotions to be with you. Let yourself really feel what your emotions and your body are telling you. Once you have gained more acknowledgement around these stress symptoms, you can take control in more resourceful ways for your natural healing to take place.