Dealing with Stress by Using its Strength to Take Control
Persistent and powerful feelings of stress come from our minds. If you or someone you know is dealing with stress and anxiety, then this will ring true for you. We all react to stress in our own way, for some the contrast between choices and outcomes becomes stark, yet for others, moments of high stress bring confusion and indecision. Those dealing with stress will know that working through stress systematically and logically is sometimes like coming face-to-face with a faster, more vigilant, and more powerful side of yourself. It outwits your rationalizations, outpaces your attempts to calm down, and has the potential to make you feel helpless. How can the power of your hyper-aware mind benefit you instead of opposing you? You could have a powerful ally when things got tough. Stress and anxiety are experienced by everyone and exist in a wide range of states. Dealing with stress is part of being human and is the usual response from a healthy, capable brain that expects trouble. Our brain can flip a switch and bring out a faster, more vigilant, and more powerful side to each of us. This is good when you need its help, but it can sometimes press the “panic” button and all you can hear and think about is the siren. Having our brain make us aware of when we should feel stress is very useful, it tells us about danger and helps us out of harm’s way in a very loud and overriding manner. When our brain tells us to stress out it is an instinctual reaction, which means that it feels like it is doing its job. The more we push back against feeling stressed, the more our brain can turn up the volume to tell us there is danger and we need [...]