Stress as the exception

Just like a roaring stomach or an energy-less body indicates we need to address our bodies, stress is a stimuli in our bodies too. What have we learned about how to deal with it?

I recently read a post by Seth Godin and part of it stood out to me.

If we’re hungry, the obvious solution is to eat something. If we’re restless, it pays to get up and walk around. Is stress different? – Seth Godin

We eat when we’re hungry and we sleep when we’re tired. Eating and resting are key to our well-functioning bodies and survival. Few of us can function on little sleep and no food for very long.

Just like a roaring stomach or an energy-less body indicates we need to address our bodies, stress is a stimuli in our bodies too. What have we learned about how to deal with it?

Along the way, it seems like we’ve built a culture which approaches stress in a much different way. We push through, we march on, we hold ourselves strong, thinking we just need to get to the other side. We just need to solve the tasks, complete the project, overcome the challenge, and stress will disappear once there. Except that the next thing we know, there’s something new in front of us.

And sometimes we take on too much, thinking we want to be more productive only to find ourselves becoming too busy instead; adding to the stress.

Stress is addressable in many different ways. Scaling back, breathing intentionally, being active, and changing the meaning we attach to the events happening around us and to us.

There’s no one way to tackle stress and while not all stress is created equal, not dealing with it isn’t much of a solution.

Miguel,
Sparknotion – Think Differently.

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