The world is crazy right now isn’t it?
In these crazy times what can you do?
While you can’t control all the craziness you can control your own decisions, and I would recommend you start with a little Biohacking!
Biohacker – A person who enjoys exploring the details of one’s life, or way of living, and how to stretch their capabilities
Origin of the word is from the combination of:
Bio – from Greek bios “one’s life, course or way of living, lifetime”
Hacker – A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities*
Let’s biohack your stress today. Keep in mind that stress will directly impact your immune system.
Stress-related disease emerges, predominantly, out of the fact that we so often activate a physiological system that has evolved for responding to acute physical emergencies, but we turn it on for months on end, worrying about mortgages, relationships, and promotions.
- Sapolsky (1998)
So, if we know that stress makes us more susceptible to disease and aging, we can agree that while stress is inevitable and an undeniable part of life, we can do our best to mitigate its effects.
Here are my biggest 5 tips on combating stress
- Awareness
In order to combat stress, you need to be aware that you are in fact stressed. Only in a state of awareness can you try and step back and reassess the situation.
- Breathe
Breathing is your first line of defense against the effects of stress. When you are stressed your body goes into a fight or flight response and we have to tell your central nervous system that you are in fact not going to die. That’s literally what your physical body believes when you are stressing about being stuck in traffic or wondering if Karen next to you forgot to wash her hand and you’re freaking out thinking you’re going to get Corona and being scared and stressed now makes you more likely to catch Corona! AGHHHHH!!!!!! Let’s bring it back in….
Here is my favorite breathing technique:
Box breathing
- Breath in for 5 seconds
- Hold 5 Seconds
- Breath out 5 seconds
- Hold 5 seconds
*Repeat until you feel your body release the tension
- Communicate the stress
You need to process the stress. Why am I stressed? What’s causing my stress? My favorite form of the process is writing. I truly believe it’s digestion for the brain. For you it may be calling a friend mentor or coach. I have 3 coaches in my life that I call about various stresses in my life. You need to release the power stress has over you and there is something magical that happens when you make it external. You begin to realize the problem is not as big as you thought and you have more power to make a change than you think. It doesn’t matter how you communicate the problem I would just recommend getting an outside perspective. Let’s be honest we could all use a little help from time to time.
- Reframe
Start with gratitude and focus on your why! I keep a gratitude journal but when times are times gratitude brings you back to center. It reminds you of what kind of what you have to be able to move forward. Let’s be honest… If your reading this you can be grateful you have air in your lungs and blood in your heart to be able to keep fighting.
Remember why you are fighting in the first place. Why is it important for you to push through this? Who is depending on you to not give up? Write it down. Post it somewhere to keep it in front of your thoughts.
- Keep Moving Forward.
The worst thing you can do in a stressful situation is nothing. Remember: Action breeds clarity! You may not know what exactly to do but doing nothing has never solved anything. I’m not saying just start running, or selling or doing crazy actions that do not align with your goals. Do the first three steps then move forward.
If you need to right now friends, take some time to unplug. Take this time of “social distancing” to reevaluate things in your life. Maybe take this time to spend some quality time with your sanitized family.
Until next time my friends, go, love, serve, and change the world by becoming the H.E.R.O. YOU were destined to be.
