Today's post is the third in my five-part series in response to Dr. Laurie Santos' podcast episode "The Happiness Lab: How Talking to a Friend Helps," which you can listen to by clicking on the photo above.
Today's topic is managing stress. I loved the way the podcast framed this topic in terms that reminded me on Hamlet's line that "There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so"(Shakespeare's Hamlet, II.ii.270). Santos made it clear that stress can be beneficial or detrimental depending on how we frame it.
Stress is a physical reaction in the body, a chemical event that can help or hurt us, depending on how we react to it. The podcast talked about research showing that when people are primed to think about the dangers and downsides of stress, they will perform worse on the upcoming tasks. On the other hand, when people are reminded that the stress reactions they feel will enhance their abilities to think and act quickly, they will not only perform better but also experience the situation as less stressful. Understanding the stress response helps people convert the impact of stress from negative to positive.
I have often written and spoken about how much I love a good reframe. Here's an example of a reframing that can have a lasting, positive influence. If we can think of the faster heartbeat as a way to ensure that we get the blood flow we need for quick reactions, then the pumping heart tells the brain, "It's going to be okay; I've got you." How nice! (At the same time, if we don't embrace that soothing message, we experience the rapid heart rate as a message that we might die. Scary.)
I work at a school filled with high-achieving, smart, athletic, talented students. In other words, I work with a lot of young people who are both used to doing well at whatever they do and terrified that if they make one misstep, they will be revealed as lucky or fraudulent, and the successes they've known will come crashing down around them. As a result of these feelings, many of them are swirling balls of stress.
One of my jobs, now that I understand the importance of managing the stress response, is to help my students learn to see the benefits of those feisty, persuasive chemicals firing their brains. Any suggestions for sharing this reframe? Do you have good ways to recognize the danger signs of stress and reframe them as perks? Please share your responses in the comments.