Good Stress VS. Bad Stress! [Vlog #24]

In today’s VLOG I wanted to share with you the difference between Good Stress VS. Bad Stress and how we can protect against the bad stress.

Click to watch the VLOG above or feel free to read the transcript below instead! 

Transcript:

Note: The following is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors. It is posted as an aid, but should not be treated as an authoritative record.

Hi Beauties,

Today I want to talk about the difference between good and bad stress, and how we can protect against the bad stress.

First of all, when we hear stress, we often assume that it’s all bad, and we want to eliminate all stress from our life. But this actually isn’t true.

There is a form of stress that’s known as good. In Latin, it would be called eustress, or positive (beneficial) stress. This is the type of stress that leads to bursts of motivation, flow and creativity.

We’re preparing for a speech, presentation or something that requires us to really hone in and focus, we can get those bursts. It’s actually really positive for us, and it’s been shown to help even cognitive brain function — improving our ability to focus long-term.

There is such a thing as good stress. It’s not all bad, and we do want to have that ability to really hone in and focus and create those bursts of creative power when we need to.

The flip side is, there is the bad stress. I describe it as grinding on the brakes all the time, and there’s just this level of tension in our life. We’re on call all the time. Our schedules are totally out of balance. We’re dealing with traffic. We’re online all the time. We can’t get away from our work emails, or we’re running around.

This is the type of chronic long-term stress that leads to inflammation and really breaks down the health of our body long-term. Of course, this is the type of stress that we want to avoid, because it’s very different than the positive burst. It’s kind of happening all the time.

If we think of our body like a machine, if we’re wearing out our system all day long, all the time, then it really is going to have quite an effect on our overall wellness.

Tips On How To Overcome Bad Stress!

The first thing, and this is a big thing especially for recovering perfectionists like myself, is this idea of control. We really have to embody and accept the truth that we can’t control everything.

This has really played a part in my life with having Bubby. Life gets crazier and crazier. When we just take a breath and realize, okay, not everything is going to turn out exactly how we want it to be or expect it to be, but we keep going with the flow, which is a practice. I really believe it’s something we can learn to teach ourselves.

Some of us may be born more high-strung, or we have more of a Type A personality or Type B personality. It’s okay. We can really bring this in as a daily practice and learn to let go of the little things.

What helps this a lot is starting the day with that meditation, with those moments of stillness, which is a great time to root in and center ourselves and calm ourselves. I find in my life, if I don’t do that, the rest of my day can be very difficult.

I do find myself swept up more in the ups and downs. Of course, things happen and we all get pissed or moody sometimes, but it is nice to have that anchor that at least is helping to support us through.

A huge part of this is also getting adequate sleep. When we don’t sleep well, we’re more prone to really giving into this bad stress and to feel more stressed out and more triggered. If you haven’t yet, please take my sleep quiz at mysolluna.com.

It will take you less than 90 seconds, and will give you some personalized information on how to better your sleep!

My third tip is to add some adaptogens into your life. Maca and ashwagandha are two that I love a lot. I put them both in my Power Protein Smoothie.

If you’d like to have more information about these two herbs, how to use them, the Power Protein Smoothie recipe, I’ll link to it here right in the transcript, so you can go right to it and you can learn about them.

You can get bags of powder pretty inexpensively, and these adaptogens help us deal with stress, so our bodies are more resilient.

I hope this helps. Think about the idea between good and bad stress, and how we can protect ourselves. We want to fortify ourselves so we feel our best, healthiest, and most well going forward.

Thank you for tuning in. I will see you back here very soon. Till then, lots of love.

Kimberly