Stop Avoiding Stress

If you asked me how I'm feeling and I said, “Stressed,” you’d probably be concerned.

Most of us would.
Because we’ve been told STRESS is bad. Toxic.

But is it?

In my view, COMFORT, not stress, is the real villain.

I went for a run this morning, and it stressed my body.
I’m taking a marketing course, and it’s stressing my self-perceptions.
I started a business last year, and it put stress on my finances.

All good, necessary things. And yes, the stress in each has helped me.

Why? Because stress is what growth feels like.

Stanford’s Dr. Alia Crum argues that the story we tell about stress is key.
Call it poison and it rots you.
Call it fuel and it sharpens you.

Elite performers figured this out long ago.
They don’t chase stress. But when it arrives, they don’t waste energy wishing it away.
They lean in.
They recognize it as their system saying: this is your moment.

So yeah, the goal was never to kill stress.
The goal is to channel it.