Raise your hand if you’re stressed
Let’s change our thoughts about stress.
This Ted talk blew my mind. We are prone to demonizing stress, blaming it for nearly every illness we can catch. Especially as a trained health coach, stress relief is at the top of my mind in creating healthy habits and preventing chronic disease.
However, in this Ted talk, Health Psychologist Kelly McGonigal shares research stating that how we THINK about stress (rather than HAVING stress) affects positive or negative health outcomes. If we can learn to shift how we think about stress — that it is our friend, not our foe — maybe it won’t kill us. Maybe it can help us stay strong and resilient. She even cites research studies show viewing stress as unharmful can help us live longer.
This is a radical idea that I’m now obsessed with.
How can we shift our thoughts about our massively stressful existence?
— View signs of stress (fast heartbeat, sweaty hands) as your body preparing you for the challenge ahead.
— Learn to change your thought pattern around stressful moments through meditation and breathwork. We can practice training ourselves to pause, breathe, and move through challenges with a calm, clear mind.
— Gather stress-friendly tools to help you through tough times, working with your stress. Learn about what this means to you. Is it calling a friend to talk through things? Is it listening to your favorite music in headphones? Is it HIIT and cardio exercises to burn energy? Anything that can help your mind change from, “OMG, I’m so stressed,” to, “Ok, this excess stress is motivating me to ___.”
— Start to become ok with whatever life throws at you by finding something that can make you smile during hard times. Recently, during one of my most challenging days of the year, I was making a cup of tea, and the tea bag’s little-paper-end-thingy had a special message: “What can you appreciate in this moment?” Yes, that can be annoying and frustrating, but just that simple message at the point of almost breakdown made me realize the stress I felt was not as bad as I thought.
— Ask someone to give you a hug.
