The Stress Remedy

So stress management seems like a reasonably good idea to most people, but in my opinion, it’s not good enough…

The goal of stress management is functionality, not optimization. If we want to get the most out of this human experience, we need to intentionally curate a stress response for ourselves that enhances our ability to actualize our potential, as opposed to short-circuiting it.

While we can’t live a life that’s stressor-free, it is possible through conscious living, intentionality, and mental rehearsal to live a life that’s stress free…

For more information on this process check out my posts "Taming the beast" and "The Science of Visualization".

Perhaps I should also point out that I’m not anti-stressors…in fact, I’m pro-stressors. We are designed to face challenges, overcome adversities, heal, adapt, and grow - and as such, problems can also arise when we bubble wrap ourselves and camp out in the graveyard of potential, more commonly referred to as the “comfort zone”.

Exposure to stressors upregulates adaptive cell signaling pathways that have been correlated to decreased risk of developing disease. Stressors are dose-dependent – this is a concept known as hormesis. Said simply, at low doses, stressors are beneficial to our physiology and at high levels, stressors can become detrimental.¹

While we can’t always control our exposure to external stressors, we can learn to regulate our perceptions so we aren’t continually reacting to relatively benign situations as if they are life and death. If you are spending most of your days stressed-out rather than stress-free, that’s a good indication that you have an opportunity to optimize your perceptions for the purpose of navigating life’s challenges with increased grace and efficacy.

Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow might not come. We only have today. Let us begin.

- Mother Teresa

Peace, blessings, love, & light,

Mica

1. Mattson, M. P. (2014). Challenging Oneself Intermittently to Improve Health. Dose-Response, 12(4), 600–618. http://doi.org/10.2203/dose-response.14-028.Mattson.