Learn How to Turn Down Mental Noise & Turn Up Focus: Discover how self-hypnosis helped me overcome chronic stress, burnout, and stress-induced pain.

Most of us face overwhelming negative stress at some point in our lives. Some of us even get stuck in a chronic stress response loop and we just can’t break free on our own and I’ll share my own story with you today to hopefully remind you that you aren’t alone if you are stuck in a stressful time of life.

There can be events in our lives that make stress so unshakeable and unbearable that we stop functioning. When this happens, we need to seek the help of a licensed-mental health professional. Sometimes, though, our stress levels can be managed by new habits and new positive mindsets, and this is where hypnosis can help.

Maybe we are dealing with burnout at work. Maybe we’ve failed a licensure exam and we worry so much about what it means to our careers that we don’t move forward with more exams. Sometimes this stress lingers and it starts to make us sick or it impacts our relationships because we can’t stop talking about work when get home, or we are stuck at the office so long we don’t get relief.

Those of us who tend to worry a lot, or self-identify as perfectionists, might get stuck in this loop and need to re-imprint some positive thoughts and habits.

Can you relate to this? I know I can.

When I was working in architecture, I allowed my thoughts, worries and negative emotions to lead me on a path to burn out and chronic pain. I didn’t know it at the time but my perfectionist tendencies and money worries (it was during the Great Recession) had created tension in my body which was causing sharp stabbing pain. I saw many doctors and had many tests, and eventually this was the diagnosis – chronic pain induced by stress. At the time I had no idea this could happen. How could my mind do this to me? Well, I now know, fundamentally, my mind was just trying to keep me safe.

How was my mind keeping me safe?

Over-planning, over-thinking, over-working … all things I thought were what made me good at my job (and from my boss’ perspective, it did!) … were mental habits that were causing my body to go into a tailspin. But my mind thought it was helping me out but making sure I checked all the options, planned for all possibilities and did an excellent job at work.

My body knew this mental tension was not good for me, not in the long run, not for months on end. Eventually, my body let me know through pain and I had no choice but to listen.

Luckily, I found a team of medical professionals to help me. It wasn’t until after diagnosis and many tests that my psychologist suggested I try hypnotherapy for pain control and stress relief. This is how hypnotherapy works. It’s a complementary tool that supports all the good work our medical team is doing for us. Hypnosis helped me to help myself. Hypnotherapy helped me change my thoughts and emotions, so they no longer caused my body to hold onto tension. Learning self-hypnosis is not alternative medicine as some might think. It is a self-care tool that supports all the other good work our medical team is doing for us. It is one of several tools that can help.

Deep inside my subconscious, there was a transformation.

With self-hypnosis as a tool to help me transform my negative thoughts, I went from feeling helpless to feeling healthy, strong and empowered. I started to feel safe and eventually the pain went away. 

Over-thinking is not the way to happiness.

Unfortunately, our society tells us that all the over-thinking and over-doing are how we feel safe. That all we need is to make more money so we can buy more things. But really, in my experience, obtaining a bigger salary so I can buy more things only causes us to have more things to worry about, spend time maintaining, and feel obliged to work more hours which eventually leads to more stress, more worry and more mental noise.

Working excessive hours in-front of the computer screen and then “relaxing” in front of the TV screen or phone, is not how we undo our stressful lives. These over-stimulating ways are what keep us in the stress response loop that leads to overwhelm at work, built-up tension, and brain fog.

And going on a long vacation or meditation retreat might help in the short-term, but typically doesn’t help us change our mental and emotional habits. Learning how to design our minds so it learns to think in a more positive way is how we learn to react differently to stressful situations.

Positive thoughts lead to positive feelings. Using will-power is one way to get there, but what if you could supercharge this by working with your subconscious?

I think we all want more clarity, calm and ease. I know that is what I wanted all those years ago when I burnt out. I wanted to change my mental habits, my lifestyle habits and how I felt so that I could feel more focused, peaceful, healthy and happy.

So, now you know why I think it is important for us all to learn how to manage our thoughts and emotions by learning to relax. This is why I’m a firm believer in adding self-hypnosis to my toolbox and to help anyone else who could use some help. There might come a time in your life, like it did for me, when stress causes more problems than it should. If that happens, please know that I’m here to support you.

“For fast-acting relief, try slowing down.”    ~ said by Lily Tomlin & written by her partner, Jane Wagner

Mel Sharpe

Hypnotherapist & Coach

My story