What to do when your security gland goes berserk.

Making peace with your security gland.

Having an overactive gland is not something new to me.  My first experience was 5 years ago when lab work wasn’t picking up on my thyroid gland that had gone berserk.  I could tell something wasn’t right but test after test came back normal.  After having yet another routine test (well, as routine as a colonoscopy can be!) that was what finally put me over the edge. The physical stress of that test acted as a catalyst that put me into full blown Graves’ disease.  This time, however,  I was now critical.  To make a long story short, my thyroid was ablated less than a week later.  That health problem is now kept in check with a little pill I take every morning and continued routine lab work.   Now all these years later, I find myself with yet another gland going berserk.  This time it is my security gland.

While you won’t find your security gland in any medical book, believe me, it does exist!  When it comes to this gland, I think women are more prone to flair ups than men.  We are simply wired differently and also tend to be naturally born worriers.  As implied by the name, this gland is all about our sense of security.  Much like an out of control thyroid gland, an out of control security gland can have similar adverse effects to our wellbeing.  Symptoms will vary from person to person but to name just a few, can include weight loss, weight gain, depression, anxiety, sleeplessness, migraines, restlessness, stress, pain, etc.  While I don’t think that a security gland can ever be completely ablated, the good news is that there are some things that can be done to help control it!  Here are a few things I have done.

• Look at the cause and if need be, do something to change it.  In my case having very little in our savings was the root of my most recent flair up.  Now that we are actively building up a bigger emergency fund, my symptoms are gradually diminishing.
• Talk to your spouse, significant other, or a friend about how you are feeling.  Hearing a different perspective can have a immensely calming effect!  Unrealistic fears tend to feed off security glands and another opinion can often help you distinguish fear from fiction.
• Give it to God!  This is one I find myself doing a lot.  The Bible is full of passages that tell us to do just this.  One of my favorites is from Matthew 6:25-34.  God truly does know our every need.
• Consider outside help.  This could be anything from reading some self-help books to possibly even getting some counseling. Absolutely no shame in that!  In my case, my outside help came in the form of reading financial books, reading financial blogs and listening to (you guessed it!) financial podcasts.  Doing these things helped me become proactive in my own treatment.
• Know that you are not alone!  This was another big one for me.  I was starting to feel like a complete financial failure.  While this isn’t where you want to stay, it may just help you decide to actually do something about it!  Others have worked through similar situations and you can too!