Stress
Notes
Stress is usually considered a bad thing. it causes us to under preform, and can cause damage to our overall mental and physical health. However, stress can perhaps be useful, and it highly depends on our perception of it. converting stress into a Challenge can perhaps negate all the negative effects . By saying "I'm excited to do this presentation" rather than "I'm stressed about this presentation" we can turn negative stress into a source of motivation Emotional Aikido.
Additionally, it would be helpful if we understand that stress results from a positive procedure in our body. As with other "negative emotions", stress is the mind's way of preparing us for a future event forward thinking. It readies the muscles, allocates blood and energy to the most important places, as if we are about to encounter a life threatening situation Emotions as decision heuristics. The problem arises when our body is in constant state of emergency. It hampers our growth and Critical Thinking, and lets System 1 take control. So while we shouldn't be angry at ourselves for experiencing stress , we should still manage it. Although sometimes Self-compassion alone is enough to reduce the stress.
Those who manage to handle stress react to it completely different. The main difference is that they prepare in advance for the moment to come, like a form of Pre-Mortem, they accept in advance that things might go wrong and think about possible solutions within a safe environment before the challenge begins, like a type of Simulations. Additionally, they perceive the situation as a type of challenge that they can prepare for and learn from Adversarial Growth rather than something that would hurt them Helplessness
Additionally, low and controlled doses of stress can help us become anti fragile, similar to a workout that strengths the muscles, we can prepare ourselves to worse outcomes by doing stress inoculation Allostasis. Those who avoided stressful situations would crash on their first encounter with a serious problem, however those who had experienced hardship before, could tackle it with relative ease.
This allows them to perform very well during the stressful moment in comparison with "ordinary people" who are surprised by the moment, and either freeze or do things without thinking.
Visual
Overview
🔼Topic:: Emotions (MOC) 🔼Topic:: Emotional Resilience Origin:: The extended mind (book) ◀Origin:: Anne-Laure Le Cunff 🔗Link::