~ Abraham Twerski
Seeing stress as an opportunity for growth instead of a nuisance is a great way to combat its potential negative side effects. In any given situation, you have the ability to react in an automated way or you can be mindful and choose how you respond. When you unconsciously react, you allow circumstances to dictate your thoughts, feelings, actions and thus, your life. It’s like you are a ship out at sea and you are allowing the waves to throw you around and determine where you end up. Whether you end up in a good place or a bad place is only a matter of luck. This is how people with a ‘Victim Mindset’ view their life and live it. On the other hand, when you mindfully respond to circumstances, you become the captain or master of your destiny and life. The waves may knock you off course from time to time, but you will keep your eye on the compass and steer in the direction you have chosen and committed to strive for.
How can I embrace stress? Stress is resistance. Therefore, I tend to think of it like I do with resistance training. As you know, resistance training has many benefits such as strengthening the musculoskeletal system and improving the cardiovascular system, just to name a few. In order for this to occur safely and effectively however, you need to implement the right amount.
If you don’t challenge yourself enough then you will slowly atrophy and become weak. This is why too little stress in your life is no good. You should be challenging yourself with something manageable each day. For example, it could be with a short workout, or facing a small fear (overcoming a mental/emotional block) or standing up for yourself when you are being taken advantage of for your kindness. No matter what the challenge, physical, mental or spiritual, taking on one or a few a day will ensure that you grow and become a stronger individual.
In the same way, if you challenge yourself too much, you will eventually breakdown in some way. If you put too much weight on the bar and then it crushes you, in this case, resistance training is no longer beneficial. Remember, putting too much on your plate is a recipe for disaster. Trying to do yesterday’s work and tomorrow’s work today is a common mistake that many people make. This is why I created the ‘V10 Health System’. It ensures that you challenge yourself with the perfect amount of exercise, nutrition and lifestyle changes.
Balancing the amount of stress to tackle each day does take awareness, practice and time, but when you get it right, the results are marvelous. You will look and feel better with each passing day. The consistent daily effort and challenges you overcome, will have you loving the person you are transforming into. And this why I love stress. I love the feeling of overcoming challenges and adversity. I love watching how I navigate through the rough seas and yet stay on course. I love when I achieve a goal that I worked long, consistently and hard for. And finally, I love when I see others do the same. Actually, nothing inspires me more. Thank you stress for the opportunity to climb our proverbial mountains and make us all stronger!
Your V10 Health Coach,
Sal Crispo P.S. If you are interested, I also make a coaching video for each of these posts on YouTube. You can subscribe to my YouTube channel so you do not miss out on any of the valuable content I share. Here is the link for this post: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75hEl1l-W-I