Surviving 'May-cember'

How Stress Wreaks Havoc on Your Body During the Busiest Time of Year

If you’ve ever felt like May is just December without the decorations, you’re not alone. Between end-of-school events, work deadlines, graduations, and sports tournaments, this time of year has earned the nickname “May-cember” for good reason. It’s a whirlwind of responsibilities that can leave you mentally drained and physically exhausted. I want to talk about how this kind of chronic stress doesn’t just affect your mood—it impacts your entire body. From disrupted sleep and tension headaches to weakened immunity and burnout, the effects are real. And during a month as hectic as May, it’s more important than ever to understand what stress is doing to you—and how to manage it before it manages you.

These are two messages that have always resonated with me, even when I was sure I wasn’t ‘overly’ stressed. We can sometimes predict it, manage it, or avoid stress altogether. But there are also ways that stress has already become a part of us. This can happen from past trauma or even experiences that we never dealt with before. Before we can even get to understanding how to manage and negate stress, we first have to understand what it looks like and feels like. I’m going down a little memory lane that some of you may remember.

Several years ago, when I was diagnosed with “walking mono,” I was under the impression that stress was only more stress than normal. I hope that makes sense. I couldn’t honestly remember a time when I wasn’t stressed, but now I had insomnia, anxiety, overwhelm, and constant feelings of fear. I guess managing four babies with no help and a growing business was “too much”. But during this time of reflection, I thought back to as far as I could remember, and I always did too much, so how was this any different?

In middle school, I was class president and a five-sport athlete. I also had chronic hives and even shingles as a 12-year-old. I never missed a student council meeting and was the head of every student leadership committee. I think how stressed this poor little girl must have been. I realized that I had actually grown accustomed to constantly performing and was seriously addicted to the adrenaline of winning and succeeding. This carried on through high school as a three-sport athlete and 12-letter winner of all three sports for four years, still a part of the student council, volunteering at the middle school, reading to the elementary students, and never having spare time to get into trouble.

In college, I was a four-year starter in basketball, and you name it, I was in it. I even tried to convince my basketball coach to let me play soccer, too. I just thought that was the way I was and was meant to be. I never ran out of energy until I had four kids in five years and was nursing or pregnant for six years straight. And boy, did I crash hard!

Dr. Kaisa made me reflect on how long I’ve been that stressed, and I believe it started around the same time as my hives at age 8. I don’t blame anyone for how my brain rewired itself, but if we’re going to teach on stress, we also need to be intentional in truly understanding it. It often starts before we realize it. I’m only sharing my story in hopes that it resonates with you.

Before we discuss ways to manage stress, let’s consider when it could have started. Remember, feelings turn into flesh. Medically or therapeutically treating stress isn’t a long-term solution. If you feel you might be dealing with some long-term effects of stress, please take 30 minutes to reflect on the starting point or when you remember starting to feel that way.

So often, stress can manifest as disease. Our organs and even metabolic pathways can get disrupted or overwhelmed, and as a protection, our nervous system can even shut down. Our bodies fight pretty hard to stay well, unless we are genetically predisposed to something that started in young adolescence or even in utero. So much of disease is an accumulation of stress inside the body over time. So if you think about it, stress usually starts in our minds, travels through our nervous system, and then the lymphatic system, then where? It just depends on what is weak at the time. This is why it’s so important to figure out the root! As usual, I don’t tell you to scare you, I tell you to equip you! CCN is all about a way of life that transforms us on a cellular level, with food. But if we aren’t managing other lifestyle aspects, then the food is haphazard at best!

Eating the CCN way of life lowers stress on your insulin, glucose, fat cells, digestive organs, and more! You’re already ahead of the game on internal stress in the body. I always like to take a moment to recognize how great you are at providing for yourself.

As I mentioned earlier, it’s important to recognize external stressors before they become internal problems. It’s also crucial to acknowledge chronic stress that may be stored inside your body, and when it started. Lastly, equipping yourself with some stress management tools is key! We know that part already, but what nobody talks about enough is recognizing it!

3 Ways to Recognize Stress

1. Evaluate your feelings of overwhelm. Are you anxious, nervous? Is your mind racing?

2. Evaluate your body aches. Are they from injury or possibly inflammation?

3. Evaluate how well your body functions. Do you try so hard to take care of yourself, and no matter how hard you try, you still feel stuck?

Understanding Chronic Stress

This one I touched on above. But often we carry stress in certain organs throughout our lives without even realizing it. If you think you could have this going on, it’s a good idea to do some more comprehensive testing or work with a professional to move this out of your body. I was reminded of this recently, working with a physicist…energy can not be created nor destroyed, it must be transferred. Extra energy in certain places in the body is not a good thing. It must be moved and worked through. So often we realize that we had some traumatic event in our younger years, but got used to how it felt, or don’t really know how to work through it, or think we did work through it.

5 Stress Management Tools

1. D3k2—If you’re depleted of vitamin D, stress could take a strong hold over certain organ systems. One thing I recently learned from the physicist I worked with, though, is that sometimes our micronutrient levels are low because of a metabolic pathway. So we don’t always want to turn to supplementation unless we know our bodies can use it. Have you ever taken a supplement that people have raved about but didn’t feel any different? You could have a broken pathway.

2. Sleep Hygiene— Nothing is more important to the body than good sleep; sleep with medication doesn’t count.

3. Exercise and not just any exercise, but the right kind of exercise that makes you release the right kind of dopamine levels. So many people are stressing their bodies more with exercise than they are regulating stress hormones. This is our chance to get it right! If you feel depleted from exercise, tired, or sick afterwards, this might be you. Don’t be afraid to dial it back, if needed.

4. Meditation or listening prayer—While this helps your entire body, it’s really effective for your nervous system, specifically for your vagus nerve. Once you learn how to meditate and bring that kind of peace and calm over your mind and body, you won’t understand how you ever lived without it.

5. Decrease what your mind consumes—Maybe this means fewer social events, a break from social media, or even news media. Our minds can easily become overwhelmed without even going anywhere. Please be protective of yours.

I hope this helps you understand stress on a physical level a little bit better. We all have some stress, which is why we have stress hormones to manage it. But we’ve gotten too far in our evolution state where we respond too extreme to it. Our stress hormones are fried, our nerves are shot, and we are generally not thriving. The CCN Way of Life is about healing the body on a cellular level to bring more joy and peace. To help our bodies thrive and not merely survive.

As “May-cember” barrels on, it’s easy to get swept up in the chaos and push through without pausing to care for yourself. But chronic stress doesn’t just fade away when the calendar clears—it lingers in your body, affecting your health in ways you might not even notice until it’s too late. That’s why it’s important to slow down where you can, set boundaries, and permit yourself to rest. Whether it’s a quick walk, a deep breath, or simply saying “no” to one more commitment, small choices can make a big difference. Your body and mind are carrying a lot—make sure you're giving them the care they deserve, especially in the busiest seasons.