You might be surprised when you read that stress doesn’t exist in the physical world. It is a creation of our minds. This however, doesn’t make it less difficult or painful.
Would you agree that the more we understand something the easier it is to handle with it, whatever that is. If someone yells at you, your reaction might be of surprise, anger or disappointment. You might fight, fly or freeze, activating the oldest part of your brain called the amygdala also known as the reptile brain.
On the other hand if you have a very clear explanation, say for instance that someone is yelling at you because a tree branch is braking and you are standing right underneath it, then your reaction will most likely be different.
Understanding how stress is created by our minds will also help you manage it in a better way. Without getting into too much detail since I’m not a brain researcher I can share with you that the when the brain’s stress center is activated, the motivational center gets blocked out causing you to feel panic or overwhelm, known also as stress.
When the stress center is at is full the most common behavior is to go round in circles without getting things done, simply to procrastinate. This in turn reinforces the feeling of stress. When the stress level is way to high you start feeling other effects in your body, like difficulty to sleep, loss of hair, loss or gain of wait, pain in varied parts of the body, as well as anxiety and irritability.
People around you won’t find you much pleasant and before you notice it your work and personal relationships will suffer.
So here’s a good exercise to do in order to get your stress levels down:
Identify in an overall way the big things you need to get done, or the big topics that are keeping you awake at night
For every one of these big topics identify some actions to take
Prioritize those actions
Do them. If you don’t you will reinforce the stress. It is of utmost importance that you commit with yourself to do whatever you decide needs to be done
This process works better when lead by a professional coach. Need more help? Get in touch with us here.
Brighter Leaders’ team wish you a pleasant summer!
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