#38 - Harness Your Stress

Today, we're going to talk about stress--a closely related topic to pressure which we discussed yesterday. As you can see in the infographic, there are four separate types of stress.

Stress itself is a “necessary evil.” As mentioned, eustress is a positive stress that has a motivational aspect. At the same time, excessive stress can have serious negative effects on health, mood, and behavior. These include.

• Exhaustion

• Muscle pain/tension

• Trouble sleeping

• Headaches

• Lack of motivation/focus

• Irritability

• Anxiety

• Sadness

• Anxiety

• Over or undereating

• Loss of temper

• Social withdrawal

With all of these side-effects in mind, here are some important ways to reduce the bad stress that you experience. 30% of U.S. adults claim to be “constantly stressed” while nearly 50% experience one or more symptoms of excessive stress. Clearly, learning how to manage stress while you’re young is a valuable skill.

Avoid the Stressor – Why stress out about things you don’t care about. If you don’t want the stress associated with things that aren’t important to you, just say, “no.” Just learning to do this will put you ahead of most people in managing stress.

Alter the Stressor – If it’s not a stress you can (or want to) avoid, look for a way to alter the stressor. Change your routine so you deal with more stressful things when your ego power is high. Look for ways to positively frame things that usually stress you out.

Adapt to the Stressor – If you can’t avoid or alter the stressor, figure out how you can handle the stress. Different approaches work better for different people, so experiment with the suggestions above and see what works for you.

Accept the Stressor – Some things you just can’t control. The stress associated with these things is typically difficult to avoid, eliminate, or adapt. These stressors you simply have to accept and ignore. Since you can’t control these stressors, why get all stressed about them? Do you best to reframe these stressors to be positive in your mind.

I hope that this content on stress has been helpful for you. Stress seems to be a topic that is widely misunderstood in the United States. If you want to discuss more, get in touch!