A New Perspective of Stress

Do you often feel stressed out about your upcoming day, week, or month? 

Do you feel like the best parts of your life are on autopilot and the remainder is filled with responsibilities that seem too much? 

Do you work really hard to do everything perfectly, all the while trying to make it look effortless? 

I’d like to give you a new perspective on stress, starting with a definition.

In Brene Brown’s book, Atlas of the Heart, she explains stressed as:

“We feel stressed when we evaluate environmental demand as beyond our ability to cope successfully.  This includes elements of unpredictability, uncontrollability, and feeling overloaded.”

Beyond our ability to cope.  Beyond our ability to handle. 

This was eye opening for me.  As Oprah would say, a light bulb moment!

Thus, my stress was caused by the fact that I thought I could not handle what problems/issues/responsibilities that lay before me.  And therefore, my doubt was causing my stress. 

All I had to do was reframe my thoughts and believe in myself to reduce my stress level. 

Sounds simple.  But it always does, doesn’t it? 😊

This may be difficult at first, but I believe it is a habit we can cultivate over time.  One of the first steps is to remain present. 

Eckhart Tolle has a mind-shifting quote in his book, The Power of Now,

“You can always cope with the Now, but you can never cope with the future – nor do you have to.  The answer, the strength, the right action, or the resource will be there when you need it, not before, not after.”

Therefore, we are fully equipped to handle what is before us at the exact time it unfolds.  If we believe this, we can significantly reduce the stress in our life.  If we live as if we can handle whatever comes our way, trusting we will be fully equipped once the situation arises, we will live in confident peace instead of heightened stress.

We can focus on the task before us and rest in the surety that we can handle what is to come.