How Do You Perceive Stress?

February 28, 2024

Check out this TED Talk. I found it well worth watching!

“How to make stress your friend” | Kelly McGonigal | TED

One of the keys to well-being and happiness is accepting and working with REALITY instead of resisting, suppressing, denying, or avoiding it.

When it comes to words like “stress” and “challenge,” I often see a push to overlook them or pretend we ought to be creating a reality where these experiences don’t exist.

Take it from me – someone who just completed the 1st of three months on crutches – challenges are a normal part of life, and they ain’t all that bad either ; ).

Dr. Kelly McGonigal of Stanford University has done some amazing studies on stress and how it impacts people who view it as harmful versus helpful.

She found that those who viewed their stress responses as helpful for their performance were actually less stressed out and anxious, and their physical stress response changed as well. They literally had less restricted blood vessels.

She also found that stress can be beneficial in certain ways by creating a “biology of courage” and producing a stress hormone in the body that makes us seek help from and connect with others.

The takeaway? In her TED Talk, “How to Make Stress Your Friend,” Dr. Kelly McGonigal explains, “I no longer want to get rid of your stress, I want to make you better at stress.”

PAVE ON!

Nina Cashman