Stress has been given a bad rap. It’s been portrayed as the enemy when in actuality it’s the opposite. 

In all fairness it’s easy to view stress as the bad guy. 

Stress hurts.

It’s aggressive and it seems to be everywhere.

It can feel unrelenting, and if left unchecked, it can kill you. 

So how can stress possibly be a gift? Well, let’s look at 4 ways to identify and unwrap the gift of stress.

4 Ways to Unwrap the Gift of Stress

1. Reframe

We’ve been trained to see stress as the enemy. The messages that come at us all day every day are about how bad stress is, how dangerous it is and how damaging it can be. This is all true.

But in reality, stress is not your enemy. It really is your friend. And it’s a gift. 

Admit it, all of us wish we had someone in our lives, a friend who really sees us. Who understands what we’re going through and cares enough to try and get us to slow down a little bit or rest.

Well, stress is that “someone”. Stress is that friend. It’s aware of the hundreds of hassles you deal with every day. 

It recognizes when you’ve pushed too far, over committed, become overwhelmed by outside sources and even when you’re feeling overwhelmed by your own thoughts. 

And it works very hard to get your attention and encourages you to rest, regroup and reset. 

The job of stress is to warn, guide and protect you. 

Stress is like the temperature gauge on your car. It’s there to warn you. You don’t want your car’s engine overheating, so you don’t want to be without the gauge. Your engine would blow up and you wouldn’t even see it coming! You need that gauge. And you need stress. But only when it stays in the green zone, just like the temperature gauge.

So rather than make an enemy of this caring and determined friend, let’s figure out how to listen to our bodies and recognize what the S.O.S. signals look like so we can create a meaningful and positive relationship with the gift that stress really is.

2. Recognize your S.O.S. signals

Stress is always on the lookout for danger and when it sees a problem it alerts you that something is wrong.

It starts out gentle. A thought, an idea or a feeling. If you pay attention and respond, it steps down and continues to observe. 

But if you don’t respond, stress will become louder and louder. 

It wants to be heard, just like a friend who thinks she’s protecting you and is trying to get your attention. 

Whenever your body detects a problem and the stress response is triggered it reacts by preparing for fight or flight and it sends out S.O.S. signals, or signs of stress. In essence it’s saying, Hey, we need some help in here!!!

There are a million ways stress can manifest itself. From a rapid heart beat, stomach ache or headache to pain, disease, illness…even catastrophic life events.

Listening to your body is key. 

How do you know you’re stressed? What does it feel like? Do you even notice that your stress response has been triggered until it’s roaring like a lion?

Learning to recognize your body’s unique S.O.S. signals is critical to being able to respond to those signals before they become alarming. 

3. Respond.

Often we respond to the early signs of stress the same way we would a pesky fly or mosquito. We brush it off. When our dear friend, Stress is whispering in our ear that we need to make a change, we turn up the radio to block out the sound. 

In essence we ignore the warnings. So stress gets louder, trying to be heard and noticed. 

The S.O.S. signals get stronger and more painful.

Responding to your body’s signs of stress is the only way to turn off the alarm. 

But how do you respond? You listen. What is your body trying to tell you?

Do you need to stop doing something? Start doing something? Change something? Do you just need to take a breath and reset? 

The sooner you recognize and respond, the sooner the S.O.S. signals will cease. And the sooner they cease, the less damage they’ll do.

4.  Eliminate the Cause

Think about what set off your stress trigger. 

Triggers are the specific people, circumstances, thoughts and events that activate your stress response. 

Then ask yourself why this triggered you. 

Once you identify your stress triggers and what caused your stress response to kick in, then it’s time to start getting rid of as many of those triggers and causes as possible so you can significantly decrease the number and intensity of the stress events you experience.

There you have it, 4 ways to Unwrap the Gift of Stress

Stress is your friend and it’s a gift that can save you from the potentially devastating effects of burnout and overwhelm.

Stress is like the temperature gauge in your car, alerting you when the pressure starts to climb, warning you that there is a potential problem and encouraging you to take action before there is a serious problem. 

When you listen and respond, then eliminate as many causes of stress as possible (and there are a lot), you’ll significantly decrease the frequency and intensity of your stress events.