New growth will require stress.
In many ways, new growth is actually the biproduct of stress. It’s the reward of experiencing and working through stress. Sometimes physically, sometimes mentally and emotionally.
Yet we often perceive stress as negative and unwanted. We tend to avoid it, resist it and label it as something unhealthy. So let’s break this down.
First, what is stress?
Stress:
Stress is the body and mind’s response to any demand or challenge that requires adaptation — a perceived gap between what a situation requires and what resources you feel you have to meet it. It’s not the event itself, but your reaction to it.
The key here is the GAP – the difference between what we already have (present state) and what’s required (future state). Without the GAP, there would be no stress (challenge).
In other words, we usually experience stress when we face a situation we’re not familiar with. Something that challenges us in new ways.
And then we often get stuck working IN the stress…
- We charge forward with narrow vision.
- We stay committed to the same strategy that got us here.
- We grip the attachment we’re too scared to lose.
To work in stress is to repeat the same pattern with no learning. It’s an unconscious practice of familiar repetition.
“Same shit, different day.”
Working in stress will likely create more of the same. There will be no change or growth. Just repetitive loops through comfort, convenience and suffering.
Any yet, there will always be stress. There will always be a new challenge. So how do we break the pattern?
We work THROUGH stress.
Face it with courage and curiosity. Meet it with kindness and patience. Respect the challenge, and align with the stress, instead of resisting it.
- What if we walked slowly with wider vision?
- What if we pause, shift and realign our strategy?
- What if we let go of the attachment and control?
To work through stress is to break the pattern and learn from it. It’s a conscious practice of new exploration.
When we work through stress, we grow.
Ali Jafarian
Ali is a family man, conscious leader and serial entrepreneur with a deep drive to create. He writes, designs and builds things to inspire the real human experience.
