Making Stress Your Friend
This week I (surprise!) watched another Ted Talks, but it’s different from the previous ones that I’ve watched. Lately I’ve been feeling the pressure of school, working three jobs, and trying to balance a social life and I’ve thought to myself, how would I do this if I was in a real working job? The stresses I experience now are more financial and time management stresses, but won’t I experience these things too even as a working adult? I thought about my question and answered it pretty quickly; yes of course I would. But how would I handle it? That’s where Kelly McGonigal comes in.
McGonigal did a fabulous Ted Talks on how people need to change the way they think of stress. By changing the way we think of stress we can actually turn stress into our friend, not the enemy. In a management position, I know I would be going through periods of high stress, probably stressing about the exact same things I am currently worried about as an undergrad. I need to learn how to deal with stress in a productive way now, so that later on, I set myself up to succeed in those high tension situations. In her presentation, McGonigal talks about how as a health psychologist, she was always telling people “stress is bad” and “we need to figure out how to eliminate stress from your life,” when really, studies have actually proven that those with even high stress in their lives, if dealt with properly, are healthier than those with little stress in their lives; it’s all in the way they think about stress. If people are in high stress situations and only focus on how bad being stressed is, then yes, they will have increased risk for stress induced health issues. But if people view that pounding heart and nervousness as your body’s way of preparing you to tackle that highly time sensitive project or brainstorm budget fixes, then you are actually able to work more productively and reverse the effects of previous stress damage on your body.
It’s pretty amazing how our bodies work like that. No matter what, our bodies know we can’t entirely avoid stress and maybe there will be situations where it’s really hard to think about stress as our friend, but if we try and avoid those negative connotations typically associated with stress and focus on using that additional adrenaline to help us get through the difficult situation, then we can make a difference in our mental and physical health. I know my stress will not magically disappear when I graduate (unfortunately a real paycheck can’t resolve all of life’s stressors), but if I learn how to deal with my stress properly now, I’m setting myself up to be in a much better place when I take on a managerial position.
How To Make Stress Your Friend
McGonigal did a fabulous Ted Talks on how people need to change the way they think of stress. By changing the way we think of stress we can actually turn stress into our friend, not the enemy. In a management position, I know I would be going through periods of high stress, probably stressing about the exact same things I am currently worried about as an undergrad. I need to learn how to deal with stress in a productive way now, so that later on, I set myself up to succeed in those high tension situations. In her presentation, McGonigal talks about how as a health psychologist, she was always telling people “stress is bad” and “we need to figure out how to eliminate stress from your life,” when really, studies have actually proven that those with even high stress in their lives, if dealt with properly, are healthier than those with little stress in their lives; it’s all in the way they think about stress. If people are in high stress situations and only focus on how bad being stressed is, then yes, they will have increased risk for stress induced health issues. But if people view that pounding heart and nervousness as your body’s way of preparing you to tackle that highly time sensitive project or brainstorm budget fixes, then you are actually able to work more productively and reverse the effects of previous stress damage on your body.
It’s pretty amazing how our bodies work like that. No matter what, our bodies know we can’t entirely avoid stress and maybe there will be situations where it’s really hard to think about stress as our friend, but if we try and avoid those negative connotations typically associated with stress and focus on using that additional adrenaline to help us get through the difficult situation, then we can make a difference in our mental and physical health. I know my stress will not magically disappear when I graduate (unfortunately a real paycheck can’t resolve all of life’s stressors), but if I learn how to deal with my stress properly now, I’m setting myself up to be in a much better place when I take on a managerial position.
How To Make Stress Your Friend
Ah this is such a relevant topic to everyone's daily life. And you are absolutely correct with regards to your mature observation about stress at different "phases of life." There are definitely benefits to stress and there is a "sweet spot" where a certain amount of stress will actually improve your performance. So it's good not to shy away from it! I think one of the first steps to manage stress is to recognize its presence. If you know it's there you can probably do something about it. Then, as you mentioned you can put it in perspective and figure out how to respond. Managing stressful situations and reflecting upon them can improve our competencies as leaders. In particular, we can hone those intangible skills such as empathy when we endure difficult situations and then lead others through them. Another key element to managing stress is to have strong interpersonal relationships that we can rely upon to help us navigate these situations. At our heart, humans need other humans, we crave those meaningful interactions. As healthcare leaders, we encounter stressful situations everyday. And sometimes we forget that our patients are possibly navigating stressful situations as well. The presence of patient navigators and other tools leveraged by healthcare organizations are in place to reduce these stressors and help the patient to focus on healing. Also, as leaders we must realize that we are human too. In spite of our yearning to stick it out sometimes and never take a break, we must realize that in order to be effective from time to time we must take personal time to maintain our sanity. I really enjoyed this blog post and look forward to more in the future.
ReplyDeleteStress comes in all forms, shapes & sizes. Different situations may carry different levels of stress. What stressed you out last week may not stress you out this week. But, as you mentioned, we should not shy away from it. A healthy amount of stress fuels a fire and actually may encourage you to work smarter! Embrace the stress you are facing now and know that it is preparing you for any future stressful situations. Heck, your life now may be more stressful than when you are working one job, with no classes, and time for a social life :)
ReplyDeleteHi Paige! Thanks so much for the comment, I'm sorry my reply is way overdue, but I appreciate your feedback on my posts. I will be working to answer these comments better in the weeks to come. I'm still feeling the stresses of school just as I was when I wrote the post (especially with it being mid-semester), but working hard to make it into a healthy stress. I am still hoping that maybe the whole one job thing with no classes might be a little less stressful!
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