When I was 19 my tutor asked the class how we felt about stress. My answer surprised many – stress was exciting. I remember exactly where I was sitting and was confused when the class summed up stress as an anxious feeling and gave me weird looks for my answer. The younger me related to stress as feeling alive.
As I’ve got older I don’t always see stress as exciting but I do thrive on a high level of having to get things done and get them done now. No surprise one of my favorite sayings is Just Do It!
It was a Ted Talk that made me recall this memory. I will link to that talk at the end of this blog post. The general feeling is that stress makes you sick and stress is not good for us.
What really struck me was the premise that it’s our attitude towards stress that dictated how our body reacted and if there were any subsequent health side effects.
My doctor published an article on this topic also. She discussed Good Stress vs. Bad Stress. And the importance of being aware of how your body is reacting throughout the different challenges each day.
The fact is that acknowledging how we react to stress has an effect on our health levels can really be empowering. It’s important to acknowledge stress when it happens but to also get outside of our head and not dwell on it. I decided to come up with this mantra to help. “I am aware, I acknowledge it, I take a deep breath and I move forward with a positive attitude – no matter what”!
It’s very easy to get caught up in the stressful moments of the day and catch yourself complaining and living fully in bad stress. How do you get out of your head when this happens? I suggest you come up with a word or phrase that snaps you back to dealing with the issue at hand and connects you with how you are reacting and what that does for your health. We can’t change what has happened but we sure can change how we react to it. What better reason to do this than to keep us happier and healthier! Cheers to your health!
In times of great stress, it’s always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive. – Lee Iaccoca
Click HERE to watch a 14 minute Ted Talk on How to make stress your friend.