One of my favorite TED talks is by Kelly McGonigal, a Stanford University psychologist. If you haven’t seen it already, it’s worth a view.
We like to say in coaching, mindset is everything.
And here, your life may depend on it.
There is so much stress we feel now in the world.
But what is your attitude about it?
Is it like a big piece of iron weighing down your shoulders?
Like four walls closing in on you on all sides?
A big physical, emotional, and spiritual drain on your energy?
And so on?
According to research cited by Professor McGonigal, people who perceived stress as harmful had a 43% GREATER CHANCE OF DYING than those who did not.
YIKES.
But…
What if you were to think of stress as good for you?
That stress you feel as a signal for your growth.
To perservere. Exercise your resilience muscles.
To find a solution within stress, that leads to more future positivity.
What if you actively pursued stress, as a way to become a better human?
What would happen for you then?
Research shows that if you had a more positive view of stress, that 43% greater chance of dying was essentially erased.
You’d live a longer life simply if you changed your perception of stress’s effect on you!
No drugs or biohacking supplements needed (save your money for something more fun!).
Why bring this research from 2013 back up again?
Uniquely we are in a time of exceptional stressors in all our lives. Multitudes of clients have shown up to sessions expressing heightened stress and stress management as a key goal.
Through coaching, we figure out what the root causes of their stress and work on a variety of resolutions to remove or mitigate stressors, increase resilience, and ultimately, to change their mindset regarding stress.
Once we reach that point, they view the world through different eyes, new life and energy.
In world full of things that stress you out, wouldn’t that be a worthwhile path to walk towards?
What’s stressing you out right now? And if you were to flip your viewpoint on how that was affecting you, how would you change? Post in the comments if you need help with viewing stress differently in your life!
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