5 Ways to Rethink Stress
By: Heather Grant
Tags: Self Improvement, Stress Management, Work Life Balance, Stress, Rethink

1. ‘I Can’t Do It’ or ‘It’s Too Much’ = I’m Ready to Try

Rather than thinking of stress as an enemy or an obstacle stopping you from achieving your goals, try thinking of it as a source of energy prepping your body to perform at its prime. Utilise. rather than accelerate, the physical changes.

If you do any physical activity, even if it’s just walking up the stairs, your heart starts beating a little faster. Do we fear it? do we panic about this physical change? do we see it as a sign that we aren’t going to get to the top? No, we just accept it as a natural bodily reaction, that energises us to do what we need to do.

The same goes for stress; our heart beats a little faster so we’re ready for action.

2. ‘It’s Too Hard’ = The Challenge Makes It Worth It

Think of something you’re proud of. If it wasn’t hard to get, would it have the same value to you? Would it be as memorable, mean as much to you, or have the same associations attached to it?

The challenge makes the achievement worth it because it’s a reflection of your desire and ambition. You had to really want it to put in the hard work to achieve it. And the challenge sparked the lessons you learnt, and character developed that happened along the way; it pushed you out of your comfort zone and taught you to grow and evolve.

A challenge is a good thing and, even if it seems impossible now, there’s so much to be gained from pushing through.

3. ‘There’s So Much I Need to Do’ or ‘I won’t get it done’= Enjoy the Flow of Energy

Eckhart Tolle wrote in his famous book, The Power of Now, that stress is an internal ‘split’ between being ‘here’, in the present, and wanting to be ‘there’, in the future. He sees the key to reframing stress as entering and enjoying the tasks at hand for want they are, rather than viewing them as solely a means for getting ‘there’:

‘If you have to, you can move fast, work fast, or even run, without projecting yourself into the future and without resisting the present. As you move, work, run — do it totally. Enjoy the flow of energy, the high energy of that moment. You are no longer stressed, no longer splitting yourself in two. Just moving, running, working — and enjoying it.’

Enjoy the flow of energy and the buzz of life as you go about your tasks; embrace the things you ‘get’ to do rather than ‘have to do’. Resist emphasizing the finished product or goals to meet — if you’re embracing each step and focusing your energy that way, the fruit of your work will come by itself.

4. ‘I’m Going to Fail’ = You’ve Done It Before and You’ll Do It Again

You’ve likely thought you were going to fail before, but you’re still here, aren’t you? And you’re still reading articles like these which shows you’ve not given up on trying.

You’ve done hard things before, and you’ll do hard things again. You’ve achieved things before, and you’ll achieve things again. Take the energy from the stress you feel, and redirect it from thoughts of failure to your achievements and the feeling of success.

Things may not pan out the way you thought they would, plans may change, and the goal may look different to how you first envisioned it — but hang on to these thoughts of success and face the task with the determination it will succeed.

5. ‘I Feel Sick’ or ‘I can’t sleep’ or ‘I can’t eat’ = Nothing is that Important

Is anything, and I mean anything, important enough to get physically ill over?

Maybe you require some stress to act, to correct yourself, to learn something new, or to do the task that needs to be done. But if you're crossing a threshold where it’s making you feel physically sick or it's interfering with your health in any way, then you won’t even be able to do any of things, or at least not the extent you would have in a calmer mind.

So no, nothing is important enough to sacrifice your health. Not a single thing is as important as your health because, at the end of the day, you need your health to do anything else.