- WISER Newsletter
- Posts
- It Was All in My Head
It Was All in My Head
3 Visuals to Reframe Your Relationship with Stress
Wisdom Made Easy
March 30, 2024
Table of Contents
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes, 2 seconds
It’s All In My Head
I’ve been really wrestling with whether I share this update.
But I’ve been honest and vulnerable with you all up until now, and I have no plan to change that.
Last month I was experiencing difficulty breathing. I couldn’t catch my breath.
One day it escalated when my fingers began to tingle and begun experiencing chest pain.
Safe to say, I was terrified.
I plucked up the courage to go to Accident & Emergency Services which felt like the longest journey of my life.
But after a mere 6 hours, I was discharged.
The diagnosis?
A Breathing Pattern Disorder likely brought on by anxiety or stress.
It’s safe to say that I am pleased that it’s not anything more serious, but as someone who thought that he was on top of his mental health, I was crushed.
I found myself beating myself up again at the thought that I couldn’t trust my body to do its usual functions because my mind was playing tricks on me.
But, as with many of the hardships or disappoints that we experience, there is wisdom to be gained if we’re open to it.
So today, let’s look at 3 visuals about stress.
😩 Stress Is Not Always Bad
People often say that “stress is bad.”
A more accurate statement would be that “too much stress is bad.”
A little bit of stress can be a good thing. It can help get the best out of us.
This is a principle referred to as the Yerkes-Dodson Law.
To reach peak performance, you need sufficient stimulation, but not so much that it’s detrimental.
That’s why this is sometimes called the Goldilocks’ Principle.
You need the amount of stress to be just right.
📝 How much stress do you have in your life? Is it too much, too little or just right?
✍️ Stress Is Manageable
You can keep your stress at manageable levels with meaningful habits.
There is a correlation between how stressed I am and how many days I’ve gone without journaling.
When I am regularly putting pen to paper, I am much less overwhelmed.
After finding myself diagnosed with a Breathing Pattern Disorder, I frantically scribbled my stress away.
This included reflecting on my work commitments, the pressures of social media, some health challenges and some rather exciting (and daunting) personal news. (news coming soon 🤐)
By processing them, I found myself discovering ways to tackle some of the stressful challenges I was facing.
It literally helped me to catch my breath.
📝 What habits help you maintain healthier levels of stress?
💡 Stress Is Your Opportunity to Bless
Stress impacts everyone.
When you are stressed, you know the difference it makes when a supportive friend comes alongside you.
Be that person too!
Jim Carrey summed it up well:
“I feel that we’re all lighthouses, and my job is to shine my light as brightly as I can to the darkness.”
- Jim Carrey
So here’s my encouragement for you:
When stress swarms surrounding you, be a blessing to those around you.
When your friends, family and coworkers are stressed, be a blessing to those around you.
At all times, be a blessing to those around you.
📝 How can you be a lighthouse? How can you bless those around you today?
📝 Journal Prompts
• How would you describe your relationship with stress?
• What habits help you manage stress?
• How can you be a blessing to those around you whilst you’re stressed?
Consider journaling through the above questions yourself.
👍 Recommendations
Here are couple of things that I think will complement this week’s newsletter and will help you to get wiser:
1️⃣ The first recommendation is some shameless promotion, but I believe it compliments the idea of how we can deal with stress.
It’s easy to default to calling yourself a failure when you’re stressed.
But that’s not true!
In this YouTube video, I share how I went from dangerously depressed to utterly empowered by reframing my relationship with failure:
2️⃣ Next up: something a little bit different.
Stress is inevitable, but how we deal with it is within our control.
One of the other ways that I like to manage it is through music.
Here is a song that I have been truly enjoying at the moment - but I’m not going to tell you what it is.
You have to click this link to find out: mystery song.
* Please note that these may be affiliate links. Purchasing through these links could support Wisdom Made Easy encourage more people to get wiser.
🗓️ Random Acts of Wiseness
In case you missed it, it’s that time again!
The Random Acts of Wiseness have been uploaded to my website, ready for you to download and get involved in small daily activities in April.
Some of this month’s activities are some of my favourites.
To get involved, download here:
⭐️ Rate This Week's Newsletter!Your feedback helps to make this the wisest newsletter possible. |
Do you enjoy this newsletter? If so, please share it with someone! Forward this to a friend, or share it on social media!
If you’ve just received this as a forwarded email, subscribe here:
😊 Thank You!
Thanks for checking out this issue of the WISER Newsletter. If you have any feedback, I would love to hear it!
Simply reply to this email, and I will get back to you.
Alternatively, just DM me on social media. You can find me here:
Catch you in the next issue!
Thanks,
Michael
If you are interested in starting your own newsletter, consider using beehiiv to make it happen.
Using my link helps me to continue to deliver the WISER Newsletter for free.
Start your newsletter for free here:
