Turn Stress into Excitement and Action!

If, like most of us, you live in the real world, you likely have some stress in your life from work, family, health, political worries…sometimes it feels like an endless list. But stress can have some positive effects in your life if dealt with in a healthy way. So, work on minimizing the stresses in your life and making whatever’s left into a positive rather than a negative.

• Use stress as a motivator. While stress can, in extreme cases, bring on depression and lower our immune systems, it can also urge us to get going and accomplish something. Small amounts of stress motivate us to get rid of it…by setting up a system to get bills paid on time (rather than worrying about having enough money in the account and scrambling to get it paid and not incur a late fee) or figuring out how to get a project done in chunks rather than trying to put it all together at once — letting stress build until it overwhelms causes inaction. Yet small doses of stress can spur us toward accomplishment.
• Use it as an enhancer. Those small amounts of positive stress are called “eustress” by psychologist Hans Selye, or “good [eu-] stress.” At those levels they actually cause our brains to focus better, as well as increasing memory and recall. So that test you worried about and studied for over the course of a week? You’ll likely remember more because of that eustress. Stress can also increase physical performance and endurance through a release of adrenaline. Think of how we react in times of danger: We think more quickly to survive and run to get away from a bad situation.
• But try to keep overall stress levels low. Just remember these benefits come in spurts — it’s not healthy to deal with prolonged stress; our bodies can only take so much. Control nervous energy by putting into something productive or listening to music that will psych you up or calm you down as needed. Try meditation or other calming techniques to lower your pulse rate/breathing. Figure out the cause of your stress and do what you can to control or minimize it as best you can, and take time away to find quiet moments for your own health and well-being.

We all have our stressors, but you can find ways to make them work for you and turn them into motivators rather than detractors. Reach out to the staffing team at Medical Professionals today to learn more or partner in your job search!