Let me ask you a question you may have never been asked, or even thought to ask. What stress are you grateful for? You read that right. Most of our lives, and a good many posts on this site, has been focused on reducing or eliminating stress. Wouldn’t a life with no stress be a great thing? You might think so, but stress does us a lot of good if managed properly. I recall listening to a talk by Norman Vincent Peale where he described a place where not a single person had a problem. Everyone there was completely problem free. A friend of his asked him to take him there. His response? “It is Woodlawn cemetery.”
That is very true. Stress is a sign of life. Many of us spend our lives trying to get rid of our stress. Our time would be best served if we found a way in which we could put stress to work for us. Changing our approach and interaction with stress can do this. A change in mindset can transform how we see stress. It will not change the stress. It will change us. The world will give us stress no matter who we are or what level we reach. Having a healthy approach to stress will allow us to succeed at every level. What is this switch in mindset? Let us take a look at it below.
I always reference working out. Lifting weights is a stress. It stresses the muscle. In response the muscle grows stronger. Without that, the muscle would remain weak. The same is true for our mental, emotional and spiritual muscles. Increasing our resilience, patience and compassion happens when we face opposition. It can be hard to be grateful for them in the moment, but they are indeed making us stronger, if we decide to let them. It may be a slightly tired cliche, but an airplane rises flying into the wind. How do you manage stress? How do you use it for motivation and getting stronger? Share your ideas with the rest of us in the comments below.
SECRET 2 AN AMAZING LIFE 