Stop Avoiding Stress and Start Leveraging It [798 Words]

It’s common to hear people say “I need less stress in my life.” but stress is NOT the problem.

The problem is people don’t know how to use stress to their advantage. It’s the mishandling of stress that chips away at your resilience.

The image of stabilized, evenly weighted scales often represents the idea of balance but a truly balanced life is in motion. The scales tipping from one side to the other as we add and remove the emphasis between challenges and restorative experiences all the while maintaining our center.

What is stress?

There are essentially 3 forms of stimuli or stress that we need to be adept at responding to:

• Mental
• Emotional
• Physical

Your body’s responses are almost identical, regardless of the type:

Your heart rate increases, your muscles tighten, your breathing changes etc.

This does not feel especially pleasant in the moment, and most of us would prefer to avoid the discomfort altogether, but that is a short term fix.

The best goal is not less stress. We actually need stress in our lives to grow and evolve. The goal needs to be greater resilience to stress!

How to increase your resilience to stress:

Challenge (stress) = Opportunity for growth

Recovery = Resting state is when the actual growth coalesces

Too much rest and the growth turns into atrophy. You want to alternate between the 2 states.

Think of it as overtraining and undertraining – both have consequences.

Overtraining: is the athlete that pushes himself so hard mentally and physically that he ends up having an emotional breakdown on the field or ruins his personal life.

Undertraining: is the couch potato who becomes obese and lives a short and unfulfilled life.

The best way to increase your resilience to mental and emotional stress is to train yourself in the physical alternating between high levels of effort and healthy periods of active rest. As you build resiliency to this one form of stress, your capacity to handle the 2 other categories improves.

Many of us in business run the risk of undertraining the physical and overdoing the mental and emotional.

JIM’S STORY

My client Jim (not his real name) spends a LOT of time sitting in airplanes traveling worldwide to train C level teams. It’s grueling. When Jim gets home he’s depleted.

He hides it well, but Jim’s anxiety levels are at an all-time high. Physical symptoms are kicking in and he’s lost his passion for the work he loved.

Peak stress coupled with unproductive recovery like snacking and zoning out in front of tv is taking its toll.

Through our coaching, Jim implements effective challenge and recovery tactics, adds more playfulness and returns to optimal health and performance. He now has the energy to launch a new business model that increases revenues and reduces travel.

The myth of resiliency:

As a culture, we have defined toughness and resiliency as the ability to push relentlessly.

I’ve had way too many high performing clients confess to me that while they look successful to the world, the truth is that they were blinded by their ambition and that on their way to the top, they neglected their health, their family and their peace of mind.

Once we implement this new approach to balance, they create outstanding outcomes from a place of flow instead of force and life is much more fulfilling.

The truly resilient high achievers challenge themselves physically, mentally and emotionally AND implement productive recovery methods so that they can achieve long term optimal performance.

Here are 3 stress-busting, resilience-building options:

1. Interval training

A series of low- to high-intensity workouts interspersed with rest or relief periods. The high-intensity periods are typically at or close to anaerobic exercise, while the recovery periods involve activity of lower intensity.

If you are not physically ready to go this hard core, do something. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA), even a ten-minute walk can be enough to improve mood and recover from stress.

2. Box breathing

Also known as square breathing, is a technique used when taking slow, deep breaths. It can heighten performance and concentration while also being a powerful stress reliever. It’s used by the Navy Seals, athletes and other professionals that have high stress exposure and need to deliver optimal performance.

3. Embrace optimism

Pessimists tend to give up more easily, feel depressed more often, and don’t cope well with stress. Optimists, on the other hand, are more resilient.

• Treat setbacks as temporary one time events
• Imagine yourself triumphantly overcoming challenges
• Treat others, even the ones that frustrate you with kindness and respect

When you approach stress as a good thing and you are intentional about your exposure as well as your recovery, you will find yourself better able to perform under pressure and live a fulfilling life.