A Cup of Coffee, a Pipe, and Stress

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Anxiety causes stress.  I read about it this morning.  Since my heart attack in December of 2011, I have taken much advice from my cardiologist to heart.  I know what stress does to one's body.  Stress kills.  I am supposed to get eight hours of sleep every night and shut down by five in the evening.  I don't exercise as much as I did, but after my heart attack I went to the gym almost daily until we bought our own treadmill.  But, as much as I can worry aboit the stupidest of things, I refuse to stress about anything.  Stress kills.

It's as simple as that.  If heart disease is a silent killer, stress stalks the heart.  I mean that.  I wake up and look forward to that first cup of coffee in the morning as I have practically since we were married.  I have my bad habits, but I can tell whether I am stressed or relaxed.  I might worry about everything, but I simply refuse to let my body and my heart to be stressed.  I know when I feel stressed.  And I must say that since my heart attack I have simply refused to be stressed about anything.

I think part of it is the acquired wisdom with age, but another part is simply to learn to listen to my body.  I had no control whatsoever over my apendicitis, which also nearly killed me.  While I still may have had stresses at the time, that had nothing to do with anything.  It just happened.  Yes, I was at the age where people seldom have appendicitis, but it could have been from stresses left over from when I had my heart attack.  My body may have been telling me something then.  

But my point is, I have had to learn to relax.  Maybe it took moving to NY to teach me this.  And I feel just as relaxed here in SW Florida as I did living in the country in NY.  I simply refuse to stress about anything.  Smoking my pipe might have health benefits that only apply to me and no one else, which is why I do NOT promote tobacco use of any kind.  But this morning I am smoking my Shite Churchwarden pipe with a mixture of Good Stuff and Sunset Rum.  I got a scale that measures in grams and decided to mix a gram and a half of each just to see what I got.  It's nearly gone now, but it means I can blend other tobaccos with Good Stuff.  And still have a lot of Good Stuff by itself.  We'll see.  

Thank you for your time and Peace to each one of you.

Dave

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