What is your experience with Stress?

And how is this experience keeping you on track and

moving you towards your desires?

Mindset is how you look at things, how you perceive life is happening around you and to you. Our mindset is created around the things that we believe, the things we have been told and the experiences we have been a part of. All of this shapes how we see the world and shapes our reality.

Let me give you some basic and generic examples of mindset - growth mindset vs fixed mindset.

People with a growth mindset believe that intelligence and abilities - skills, can be developed through discipline, education, effort, and learning. Where as a fixed mindset, the opposite of growth mindset, believes that Intelligence and abilities are fixed traits, and that people are born with their abilities and are limited to only those abilities, one that the person has only a certain amount of it. 

Because of these beliefs people with a growth mindset can find inspiration in the success of others and see it as evidence that they can achieve similar success through effort whereas people with a fixed mindset, their beliefs makes them Feel threatened by the success of others, as it just highlights for them in their mind their own shortcomings.

So a mindset refers to a person's established set of attitudes, beliefs, and assumptions that shape the way we perceive and respond to situations. It's a mental framework that guides our approach in life, it influences the decisions we make, and interprets experiences so that we perceive, that is see what is happening to us whether we others see it that way or not, our mindset is our own. 

Mindsets play a pretty significant role in shaping our behavior, influencing our resilience,  that is perceiver or give up, and it determines how you handle challenges and opportunities.

Let’s talk about stress. 

Stress is actually a good thing in several instances, it’s not all bad. Stress is actually healthy for you in many cases. 

While chronic and overwhelming stress can have detrimental effects on physical and

mental health, some level of stress can be healthy and even beneficial. This is often referred to as "eustress," which is a positive form of stress. 

Moderate stress can serve as a motivator, driving people to meet the challenge and perform at their best. I know for me that I work well under pressure, and often some of my best work comes from the stress and pressure of meeting a deadline. Stress can enhance focus, alertness, and productivity, and has been known to lead to better outcomes.

Facing new and challenging situations can stimulate learning and personal growth. Stressful experiences can sometimes provide opportunities for us to develop new skills, problem-solving abilities, and coping mechanisms.

Stress can heighten awareness and focus, helping us to be more attentive and responsive to our surroundings. This acute awareness can be beneficial in situations that require quick thinking and action.

Shared stressors can strengthen social bonds. Going through challenging experiences together can create a sense of solidarity and mutual support within a community or group.

Now, the duration and intensity of stress is the key to note here. While short-term, manageable stress can have positive effects, chronic and severe stress can lead to a range of health issues, including anxiety, depression, cardiovascular problems, and weakened immune function.

Today I want to help you begin developing your skills to reign in your daily stress.  

By understanding that there are healthy benefits to stress and that there are dangers that lie in chronic severe stress, We can learn ways that will help us to maintain an “okayness” with our daily stress, co exist with it versus live in hate of it all day - its this feeling or relationship where we let our stressors loom over us all day that we make an enemy of it and we wrestle with it aLL day  - only to go home depleted at the end of the day with no energy to self care at the end of or start of our day. 

I know how it feels, when it really feels like there’s nothing you can do about the stress consuming you, and it feels like it’s hopeless. We feel it because we think we’re stuck in the situation that’s causing us the stress. As if we have no choice - no control. It’s feeling like you have to stay at your job because the money is too big to let go of, or bc the money is what’s keeping my home afloat, or for some its a job or career they’ve invested years in and they're “used to it”, so they excuse it and push through, even though all they feel is unhappy everyday. Or they feel stuck for fear of leaving a well established career or job where they have experienced success and what would everyone think or say if I walked away? 

The good news is we can reshape our mindset around stress and learn to recognize when stress becomes excessive so that we can take proactive steps towards wrangling it back down, or even keeping it from overwhelming us to begin with.  By reframing our thoughts and exploring small, actionable steps, you can regain a sense of control and work towards managing stress more effectively.-  you having control of it, your daily stress – no longer letting it take its hold on you throughout the day.

Do This:

1. Pour a favorite drink, coffee, tea, soda, cold water...and think about what you want your life to look like in the following areas, any of them or all of them...

   1. Personal Life, Home and Family?

   2. Career, Work, and Business?

   3. Health and Wellbeing?

   4. Finances?

   5. Community, Friendships?

   6. Spiritual, Learning?

2. What if there were no obstacles to getting these things? Would you do it?

3. Who / What do you need to be to get these?

4. If there was one change you could make over the next 3 months, what would it be?

5. FOCUS: My theme (are of focus) for the next 3 months is _____________________________.

Getting present and intentional with your thoughts and proactively identifying what you want in any or all of these areas can help you start to identify the practical day to day steps you could take to stay focused on what you want and work daily towards these things.

By doing this you will eliminate, that is, not do or pay attention to, things that are taking you away from your goal and focus. This will keep you from the feelings of defeat and exhaustion that wrestling with stress daily often leaves us with.