For all of us, life has its challenges and we often have very little control over external events and circumstances that cause us stress. Stress is defined as a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances.
However, one thing we all can totally manage is ourselves, especially what we think and feel. For many of us we create our own life of misery with the negative thoughts that feed into our feelings of anxiety. Anxiety is triggered when we focus on something we cannot control, but want to control it.
Many of us have experienced some degree of stress and/or anxiety living with the pandemic for the past two years. One very effective way to overcome our anxiety and better manage our stress is to develop strong mental muscles. Think of it as going to the gym for your mind, and you can do all the exercises in the comfort and safety of your own home.
Recently, a client explained that “When other people are making demands on me, and as much as it’s important to them, it can overtake my mind and get me stressed and anxious.”
He continues, “I’m more productive when I’m positive. When I’m caught up in the negative, it gets worse for me and it spirals out of control. I do the job too quickly and miss an important bit, or I get frustrated and my thought processes aren’t good enough to get the solution I’m looking for. I think of all these complications before it’s even started.”
If this sounds familiar to you, then being able to stop and think, and take a breath to pause, will enable you to avoid going down the negative spiral that will lead to more stress and anxiety. With strong mental muscles, you will be able to focus on what is important to you, and stay in a more positive and productive space.
When faced with a challenge, and your response has been stress and/or anxiety, then when repeated enough times, it becomes a habit. The good news is, that habits can be changed with focus and practice. Strengthening your mental muscles will enable you to rewire your lockdown brain and develop more positive and helpful habits.
Guest Author – Gaye Kuelsen
Professional Certified Coach (PCC) Gaye (pictured) works with people who are good at what they do and looking for the next level in their professional development, business growth or lifestyle balance. With extensive corporate experience in business administration in the finance, insurance and medical industries, and over a decade in the government sector, she incorporates her lived experience in her coaching.
If you’re curious to learn how to build your mental muscles in just two minutes a day, then join us for the Wynnum Business breakfast webinar next week (7.50am Tuesday 15th February).
This article first appeared on Wynnum Business.
