Do you believe in good and bad forces in life? Well, I’m sure you do, it’s obvious that it exists. But what I’m talking about is the concept of “yin and yang” where there’s light and dark –good and bad to everything. In the same regard, I believe that there also exists good stress and bad stress. As famous wet oil painter Bob Ross once said “You can’t have a the light without the dark. You need the light areas to make the dark areas show. Just like in life.”
Having said that, I want to go through the elements of stress briefly before we talk about anything else. For starters, let’s discuss the good kind of stress, and then work our way to the other kind.When you’re thrust into a situation that challenges your potential and your capabilities, it brings on a certain element of stress.
Whether it’s trying something you’ve never done before, competing in a contest, starting a new business or venture, or anything else what you’re having is an experience with the GOOD kind of stress.These challenges are what bring your life a constant state of change, in terms of the up and down movement in emotion.
Without these sort of happenings, your life would, arguably, become far less predictable and potentially less exciting. While it may be comfortable to remain in a zone of “knowing”, you also deny yourself the opportunity to explore your full potential as a person. Sometimes all it takes is a little bit of encouragement or a fresh perspective to inspire you to step out of your comfort zone.
Instead of approaching these situations as “fearful”, approach them with a heightened sense of awareness. Now, bear with me here. You want to view situations, people, and everything as an observational body. By this, I mean, rather than placing judgmentor jumping to a “side”, you simply observe.
Practicing this relaxed state of mind will allow your environment (and the people within it) will become more supportive and, of course, relaxed. I believe that a lot of us are equipped with an instinct to form excuses and reasons as to why we shouldn’t tackle a challenge, or make a significant (or small) change. Meanwhile, the truth is that sometimes you rational mind doeshave a point.
At the same time, you should be consciously aware of your comfort zone and howrooted you become with it. The more you immerse yourself within it, the harder it can be to get out. Think about it this way: sometimes you might be comfortable, and then all of a sudden an opportunity comes along. Your first instinct may push you to decline the opportunity, whatever it may be, and remain in a state of constant knowing and comfort.
Taking an intelligent “risk” when the timing is right can end up transforming your life from ordinary to far more fulfilling. Taking a step forward, or a risk, can be a positive movement towards growing as a person, and also coping with the otherkind of stress –the badkind. Now, if you’re going through this course, then I’m sure that may be why you’re here. Dealing with the bad stress, the kind you could definitely do without in your life.
I’m not going to bore you or waste your time by listing off reasons or situations that can generate bad stress. Mainly because I’m certain you KNOW what stresses you out and creates that feeling of overwhelm in your life. Just thinking about the topics and things that are weighing over you can cause your mind to escalate the situation.
This, in turn, makes coming up with a solution AND dealing with the stress effectively far more difficult. Now that I’ve given you this overview of good and bad stress, let’s just dive right into the topic of breathing to relieve the stress.