Stress: a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances.
Some words synonymous with stress are trouble, worry and anxiety.
I mean, this makes sense, right?
When most people consider stress it is not typically associated with feelings of satisfaction and contentment. Stress is often seen as obtrusive and uncomfortable.
Often times people will conduct themselves in a very “low-stress manner,” doing whatever they can to diminish or eliminate the presence of it. While that’s understandable, we are all guilty of feeling these stresses and trying everything in our power to return back to a state of calm. Stress is uncomfortable and it is human nature to find relief.
We need to stop doing this.
Viewing stress as only negative and destructive is awarding it too much credit and granting it too much control over our lives. Completely eliminating it just makes it harder to handle when it does surface.
Stress can be both a supplement and a detriment. Stress is good when it is used as a motivator. Stress is good when you have loads on your plate and you feel it just enough to have the adrenaline to conquer. Not often do we get to control what happens to us, but we do have all the power to decide how it affects us and how we respond to it. Stress is not best when it is eliminated, but rather when it is repurposed into an accomplice for operation.
Stress traverses into its detrimental stages when it becomes the master manipulator, a force that changes you into someone that you are not proud of. When you become overwhelmed and instead of believing in your abilities you begin to become complacent and bitter, frustration becomes a theme before you realize it … and you’re comfortable with that.
But even amidst the negative side of stress, there is a silver lining that accompanies it, a ray of light in the storm of pressure surrounding you.
And it is just that.
Stress only surrounds you. You will only find that it has entered and become consuming if you’ve let it. But even if you do find that you have given stress some undeserving control of your life, it’s never too late to take it back.
American psychologist Wayne Dyer says it perfectly when he says, “The truth is that there is no actual stress or anxiety in the world; it's your thoughts that create these false beliefs. You can't package stress, touch it, or see it. There are only people engaged in stressful thinking.”
With the right mindset, we can all manipulate stress before it begins to manipulate us. We all have the power within us to repurpose negativity and anxiety into motivation and purpose. We are each the masters of our own destiny, the leaders of our own lives, and we deserve to make the most of it all.
“There's a lot of stress out there, and to handle it, you just need to believe in yourself; always go back to the person that you know you are, and don't let anybody tell you any different because you are special and you are awesome.” – Olympic Gold Medalist, McKayla Maroney
