Why Stress and Mindset?
As much as we would like to separate our mind, body and spirit - they are knotted together and can never be undone. And while it might sound woo-woo to talk about our thoughts and feelings having physical manifestations, there is hard core scientific data that backs it up. Simply put your feelings are physical. When you have happy thoughts, there is cascade of physical measurable changes happening in your body.
When your thoughts are racing and you are stressed, there are physical changes that happening in your body. For instance - when you are experiencing mental stress your body intentionally suppress your immune system because your immune system is primarily for fighting off future threats. Instead it reallocates resources to your fight or flight systems, increasing blood flow to your extremities ect because the stress indicates you have a threat that you have to deal with RIGHT NOW. While that stress response would have helped our ancestors escape some scary situations, it actually is damaging for our modern day considering how much time we spend stressed out over work, the news, finances ect.
Fixed Mindset vrs. Growth Mindset
It would be easy to look at stress and mental health as something outside our control. Maybe it is a factor of health, but I can’t do anything about it. I do not want to minimize how difficult taking this challenge on is - but I do want to suggest that none of us are stuck where we are at forever.
There is an awesome book by Carol Dweck called Mindset. In the book she lays out the framework for people with Fixed Mindsets, and people with Growth Mindsets. The fixed mindset believes that you are stuck. All of our attributes are fixed, you are either naturally adept or destined to fail, you are a victim of your circumstance. The growth mindset believes that characteristics are just skills to be developed. You can learn, grow, practice and take ownership of your life.
If you subscribe to the growth mindset, then you can work to get better at anything. You look at the aspects that are inside of your control, and practice, build habits and routines, seek out mentors and experts, and resolve to never stop improving.
Enviroment
So what are some of the things we can take ownership of when it comes to our stress and mindset? Your external and internal enviroment. The things that surround you and the things that make up you.
External:
Overstimulation: We were not meant to have a constant stream of input dumping into our brains all day every day. Be cautious of the amount of news you take in. Be cautious about how much time you spend on social media. Be aware how much time you spend playing video games. Even good things like listening to educational podcasts can just add to the total overstimulation burden.
Physical Enviroment: Our modern culture is fast and loud and being frantic is the norm. These are heavy choices, but maybe your job carries an unhealthy amount of stress. Maybe your mortgage puts a ton of pressure on you family. Maybe your friend group doesn’t align with you lifestyle any more. Maybe the kids DONT need to play 4 sports at a time. These things make up a huge portion of your life - but they actually ARE within your control if.
Internal:
Your Gut: The micro-biome in your gut contains massive amounts of power to influence how we think and deal with stress and emotions. Believe it or not your gut contains a majority of your body’s serotonin. When that micro-biome gets out of whack from eating a standard American diet - so does our ability to optimally switch through positive and negative thought patterns. There are many more mechanisms than this, but more and more mental health experts are targeting DIET as a factor in their treatment.
Your Words: Final one - and this is my #1 pet peeve on my list. Complaining. Your words have power. For a thought to be in your head and exit your mouth as a complaint you have waved the white flag. You are shifting out of growth mindset and into fixed mindset the second you allow that to happen. And it is 100% a choice and 100% a skill you can get better at. So here is my challenge to you: No complaining this week. Listen for it & squash it.
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