The Roots of Stress - How Do You Dig In So You Can Stop Stressing Out?

Stress.

It seems all of us are under It, overwhelmed with It, or just plain in It.  It's one of the most common words we use nowadays.

I'm old enough to remember when the word stress started making its way into our everyday vocabulary.  I believe part of this is due to our society as a whole getting more comfortable with acknowledging weakness and the need for help—a necessary step towards being more honest with ourselves and others.

It was a good shift to make in our collective consciousness; however, I think we're ready to take it to the next level.  "Stress" is so very often a mixture of thoughts, beliefs, and emotions concerning a situation or event and the (semi/subconscious) connection to our back story.

Even when we are dealing with a stressor involving our physical self, it's how we deal with the rest of that mix that determines how we handle it...

... or don't.

Think about weight lifting or physical training for something you really want.  Any pain or discomfort you experience isn't so bad because of how you feel about the end result.  Adjusting our mindset on any physical ailment or pain can drastically reduce our stress load, even when the ailment sticks around for a while...

... and especially when it is something we don't want any part of.

The power to move forward with more peace and clarity lies in mastering our mindset, emotions, and perspective.

This works in every aspect of our lives...

..physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, social, job, home, with people, by ourselves, on a bus, in a restaurant...

kind of like green eggs and ham, these adjustments go absolutely anywhere! (Sorry, the cadence was just too much for me to resist).

I've found that almost regardless of the details, stress occurs when we don't take the time to really, thoroughly, process a situation.

As an Emotional Health and High-Performance coach, I see the following list as being the most common origins of stress.  Some of them will even work together as a team to really get you wound up and spinning.

Notice that I didn't add "people" to the list.

Of course, any interaction has the potential to add stress to our lives; however, they are not the root of our stress.  How we interpret the interaction is our real ground zero.  It's amazing once we address and then learn to coach ourselves through a collaborative conversation how thriving during stressful events is totally possible.

Some of these sources (time, resource, ability) can look fixed to us, but by asking ourselves what we believe, we can shift our perspective even on these aspects that wear us down and stress us out.

 The Roots of Stress

• Unprocessed emotions

• Unprocessed thoughts

• Not making a decision

• Using energy to avoid looking at the issue (distraction, denial, justifying, addiction)

• Control (feeling controlled, trying to control)

• Constraints (time, ability, resource)

• Unresolved situation (limbo or pattern repeat)

• A belief that is unrecognized, unacknowledged, and/or unexamined

• Loss (of self-care, nutrition, health, job, awareness/dealing with illness, accident, death, divorce)

Tell me about it...Literally!

Which roots are feeding your stress equation?  I'd love to know what is challenging you the most, so I can post more content that will help you.  Click here to give me your feedback.  It'll take about 5 minutes, and it may lead to making a difference in your life. (no email required)