Where I store my stress
I know that in high school and through my early 20s I held my stress in my throat. When I’d get stressed, when I had to do something nerve-wracking, My vocal cords and neck would get tight. My voice would get tired quickly under stressful conditions (like public speaking, pthaw).
Later, I recall holding quite a bit of my stress in my shoulders. Right in the spot between my shoulder blades would tighten.
This week I had some stress and it manifested in mid-back pain. About 8 inches below the spot between my shoulder blades. A very sharp nerve pain between two vertebra. I sat down to put my shoes on, slipped my right shoe partially on, crossed my right leg over my left, put my left index finger in the heal of my right shoe to slip the heal in and when I applied a little pulling force, that spot between my vertebra screamed. It was like the (very slight) sheering force was going to tear me apart.
I sat upright and held there for a minute, staring at my shoes, wondering how the hell I was going to get them on. Joy.
I resolved to gently work through the pain. The shoes went on and I went out.