Stress

Stress is a word which always carries a negative feeling when it is brought up in conversation. Many of my patients come in complaining of how stressed they are and how their upper back/shoulders feel like concrete, I hear friends talk about how the economy is affecting their business thus making them stress more about tomorrows pay check and I often see people who don't prioritize their day or goals fall into a state of panic or stress trying to find a way out their situation.

I always take pride in really not letting stress get to me but so far this year I have started to become friends with the negative side of it (will talk about positive stress later). Over the past couple weeks my wife and I have bought a house, are trying to sell ours, one of our cars transmissions died, we are both busy professionals, trying to keep up with three amazing, amazing girls, building a coaching business on the side, trying to carry out 10-15 hours a week of my own endurance training, lack of sleep due to a fast growing 8 month old and on top of it always trying to remain open to friends and family that need us.

Yesterday for about 15 minutes I will say I broke down  but then went to my safe haven. A 4000 meter, arm falling off, lung searing swim workout. There is something peaceful about seeing that blue line at the bottom of the pool. As hard as the workout was it allows my mind to wander and re-collect any negative thoughts that I might be allowing in. First off I realized that in the big picture I am extremely lucky to A) have an amazing family that surrounds me 24/7 and B) a healthy body and outlook that never slows down in the face of anything that tells me otherwise.

This now leads me into the positive affects of stress and in my day to day activities and mentality it falls into two categories...1) exercise and 2) is what I call "What are you gonna do about it". Everyone that exercises typically goes into a session or season with a particular goal in mind. i.e. loose weight, performance gains, competitive edge or just to feel good about ones self. After 15 years in triathlon I have come down to stress meaning constantly improving myself year after year. Whether its a workout like the one above or an easy run they both have a stress on the body that tomorrow, next month and later in the year will make me a better triathlete. The second stressor "What are you gonna do about it" is a little more broad. Most people have stress in their life of varying extend and situations but some people let the stress continue to build into there life is overwhelmed by what is stressing them. This is when I ask them "what are you gonna do about it"...when that stress comes on its the positive actions that are needed next to either solve the problem or start building the blocks needed to take you towards breaking out of the cycle. Once I started to fall into the negative stress cycle I describe above I quickly started to develop the steps needed to make every one of those stresses disappear.

Sometimes the answer is an easy fix and is quickly taken care of. Other times you need to be patient and know as long as you keep following the necessary path you will make it out on top.

The picture above is my daughters goals for 2014. The reason I share them is that goals can sometimes feel stressful and out of your comfort zone (stress) but when you surround yourself with the right people, gadgets, thoughts and most important your right frame of mind then anything can be accomplished.

Make It Count!!!