Make Stress Your Friend

^{(Title image: Photo by Mina Rad on Unsplash)}

Stress…is not my favorite thing. In fact, when it results in anxiety it is absolutely horrible.

But what if you were to take a stressful episode and view it as an alert to interrupt the cascade of reactions that you are in the middle of.

Instead of allowing stress to take on the runaway locomotive feel, it would serve as a time-out flag, a warning of sorts that right *now* is the time to take a short break, reshift your focus, resettle your body and release some tension.

In order for this to be more effective, it helps to actually notice the stress building. That can be a task in itself as we can get swept up and carried away with intense feelings and not realize what’s happened until we’re in the middle of it. But no matter, wherever you are when you become aware that you are in desperate need of a calming break, just take it.

If you know that the effect that stress has on you is unsettling, don’t tell yourself you don’t have time. Don’t say that you’ll do it later. Don’t try to convince yourself that what your body is telling you is “not that bad” and that you can “work through it”. Just do it.

Use that opportunity as a reward to immediately focus on your hands or feet, notice where they are at that moment and then take a deep breath with an extended exhale. Maybe you have time for only one breath, that’s okay. Focus on it as if it’s the only thing in the world. This doesn’t have to be a ten-minute meditation session. It’s just a break from the craziness of the day to show your frazzled nerves some much-needed love.

Looking at stress this way takes the teeth out of the effects that it has on you. Yes, it may take a while to re-learn your reaction to the heart-pounding and stomach-churning, and while the relief might not be 100%, it’s definitely an improvement.

The best thing is, the more often that you do it, the more you will re-wire your brain to accept stress merely as a signal that your nervous system is asking you to help it release some steam, and not anything scarier than that.