Stress management techniques matter. So glad you're doing well with that. Until I learned about SHHH/HLAA back in the early 80s my stress level was extremely high. I had a variety of health issues due to high stress. My doctors had no clue what was wrong with me. They insisted it was all 'in my head'. Even though they knew I had sensorineural hearing loss, they did not relate it to my health.

It helped so very much to learn I wasn't alone with the hearing issues I struggled with; social and professional. I had no idea there were ways to bring sound direct to my hearing aids. Even though they were rather primitive then, they helped. Other people with hearing loss introduced me to them. Once I learned coping strategies and tried some of the very basic assistive listening devices that were available back then I realized I did not have to spend the rest of my life in a deaf world.

Hopping on the bandwagon to educate and advocate for better services and products gave me a mission and a purpose. It has now been over 35 years of involvement. Seeing the changes in the industry, watching the success of cochlear implants and having hope for the possibility of a cure for some types of hearing loss helped relieve the stress I had been feeling. Sure, I still experience stress due to hearing loss and hearing fatigue, but I know it's OK to take a break from it and I do.

I am so thankful for the advocates who have gotten hearing loops installed in performing arts centers, churches, meeting rooms, etc.; for those who worked to develop closed captioning, and other technologies that have created communication access. Those advocates, for the most part, have been hard of hearing people themselves. All of these things that keep us in the hearing mainstream are stress relievers.