I Recently watched a video of a scientist speaking on the detriments of stress. The biological and psychological science behind the human experience of stress is amazing. Strangely, though, her point in this presentation wasn’t that stress is bad us (because we really don’t need a Ph.D. to tell us that). No, the interesting science she presented was that merely thinking about stress was bad for us. I suppose we all feel stress at some level and according to this doctor we were to accept the idea that stress is just a part of life and not stew on the idea because too much stewing could could shorten your lifespan considerably. After I untwisted my brain about thinking about thinking, I came to realize that whether stress itself or the thinking thereof was bad that we must keep having the courage to move through it in our lives.
There are certain circumstances when the stress response is quite natural and seemingly unavoidable. If you were hiking, and saw a kodiak bear on the trail in front of you, I suppose “stress” may be unavoidable. The issue is that there are other non-life threatening situations wherein we have a choice. But even then, the response of stress seems natural to us.
If we are going to reduce stress in our lives and mitigate the countless health effects it has, we must recognize the difference between a Kodiak and, say, situational stress when we feel out of control in more common parts of our life. Every bit of change to our thinking – even thinking that leads us in a better direction — takes courage because we so want to go with what feels natural. There are steps we can take to bolster this courage and Rewire is about helping you take them. If you are overly stressed or know someone that is, please know that there are things that you can do. Belief in the possibility is step one to having the courage to change how you think.