What Stress Does to Your Body
Picking spots & scratching skin [2min read]
A couple of weeks ago I had a few more spots on my face than usual.
Not because of something I ate, less sleep, hormones or skin changes at all really.
It was because of some friendship dynamics shifting.
Cue higher general emotional distress in my system.
These relational shifts left me with a feeling of unsteadiness, like the ground was moving. It activated a part of me that had determined certain dynamics needed to stay the same in order for me to be ok.
I have another embodied imprint though… feeling safe enough inside the discomfort of “It’s ok for things to change, ok to grieve, ok to adapt and evolve”.
So how did this cause spots on my face?
My lack of control over the changing landscape, and a general “on edge” activation, started to leak into how my body was moving.
Without my conscious awareness, my little activated hands moved to scratch and try to find spots to pop that weren't even there — sorry bit gross.
Agitating the skin, I passed on the overall agitation in my system and a desire to control any potential grief surfacing.
I see this with clients often: A repeated fidgeting pattern, rubbing/picking ears nails eyes, bracing clenching muscles, the jaw etc. All ways your body moves, sometimes with such a compulsion, to try to manage, modulate, or offload energy and distress.
So, while on a walk one day, I decided to stop trying to control or change the situation and just be with any grief instead.
I let myself experience what change actually feels like for me. Wobbly legs. An open, exposed front. A tender heart space. Unsteady and spacious at the same time.
After this, no surprise, the spot picking started to ease. I was now using those spare moments to feel instead of fidget.
We are always embodying something, even in small movements. Without shaming yourself, can you be with the feeling under your movements? Even 10 mins can help that distress to move through you rather than recycle, like it was with my scratching and spots.
What are your hands doing when you’re stressed?
