Taking Action on Stress
Published in celebration of stress awareness month
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"What if you could face the most stressful situations with confidence – knowing you won’t break? I never thought that was possible, but now I do. And it’s changed everything."
Building stress resilience requires the same mental model as developing strong glutes. Please let me explain … and I will come back to the topic of a robust bum towards the end.
Today, I am confident that I can deal with the most stressful of situations. This feeling is empowering and utterly liberating. But I have not always had this confidence.
I suffered all my life with serious stress. In 2009 I had a major stress episode which put me into medical care for an extend period. In 2020, I suffered again because of COVID and the lockdowns. I did not need extended care this time, but it was horrible enough for me to say, ‘enough is enough’. I became determined to find a way to build my resilience and reduce my
susceptibility to stress once and for all. The last five years of discovery and development have been quite a journey – at times inspiring, at times a bit tough.
Most importantly, it has worked. 18 months ago, I contracted Lyme’s disease, which is notoriously difficult to treat. I am only just becoming free of the symptoms now, but I have come through the illness psychologically intact. My mood has never collapsed, I have not given up. I have been able to be kind to myself and rest when needed. My business is still intact, and my family is thriving. I am a bit fatter, but this can now be reversed and is a minor consideration compared to the other ‘resilience achievements.’ I am quite proud of myself.
EmPower Mental Fitness is a programme we have developed to help you build stress resilience, amongst other things. If this interests you, or if you need it, please read to the very end of this article.
There are many benefits of building up stress resilience:
· Regaining a simple joy in life.
· Sleeping better. Much better. And having more energy as a result.
· Enjoying personal relationships much, much more.
· A clearer head and greater productivity at work and in daily life.
· Being more solution-orientated and decisive.
· Being able to manage emotions.
· Laughing a lot more.
Research from our sister business has shown an additional list of benefits in our professional settings, including:
· For people with ambition: the defining differentiator between successful senior leaders and ‘the rest’ is stress resilience.
· The number one indicator of a high performing team is good mental fitness – including stress resilience.
· Stress resilience is a long-term success factor for the self-employed and business owner/managers.
· People who have built stress resilience are more productive and happier at work.
I have obsessed for five years to understand and deal with stress. The work includes literature reviews, working with a psychologist, therapist and other professionals in the field – and a lot of testing, trialling and learning. Here are a few things I have learned:
· It takes repeated action to build stress resilience. Thinking our way out is impossible. ‘Taking a break’ gives useful short-term relief but does not build lasting resilience. Wellbeing takes us so far … but not far enough to build permanent solutions.
· Repetition is key. In order to train ourselves to be stress resilient we must repeat useful actions for an extended period. These actions can be simple, easy and cost-free.
· It is possible to build a new emotional history and therefore reduce our susceptibility. Some people (like me) are more prone to stress because of our emotional history. New experiences can help us build new self-belief and resilience.
· A holistic view is the breakthrough. It is easy to blame stress on workload alone, but this is rarely the sole cause. We must also take positive action in our personal and financial lives, to strengthen relationships and to look after our body.
· Other people are essential. Isolation is the worst trigger of stress – whether the isolation it physical or emotional. Connecting with the right people make us feel safe and encourages the positive actions.
What about those glutes I mentioned at the top? I have a longstanding lower back injury, so strong glutes are essential to my daily function. I tried shortcuts, different chairs, braces, medical interventions and supplements. Eventually, the penny dropped – I if do not want daily back pain, I need strong glutes. The way to get strong glutes is to do squats. A lot of squats. But squats can be hard and a bit boring.
Then I found out there are loads of ways of doing squats … front squats, back squats, side squats, one leg squats, lunge squats, jumping squats, narrow squats, wide squats, heavy squats, light squats, sumo squats, goblet squats … you can even do squats while dancing. This brought immense variety into the squatting – which is essential for motivation. It also gave me options for handling the bad days. When I do not want to do squats, I can do some that are easier (do something, do anything!) but on good days I can really raise the bar.
What is the answer to continued improvement for glutes and lower back pain? It’s always the same … more squats!
That is the same principle for building mental fitness. To improve, we need to train. Training is an up and down thing for most of us, so having options to at least do something on the bad days is essential. So is the ability to up the game on the good days. Variety is essential to maintain motivation.
This is how the EmPower programme works – you create a programme of simple actions to train your resilience. You do the easiest ones when you feel like it - and on a day when you wake up full of beans you go for the bigger, more impactful ones. You do not give up and gradually your resilience gets stronger and stronger. Like squatting for glutes, there are many ways of training the same thing - your belief. When these actions become automatic (unconscious) you are building resilience. The actions for every person are different, but we are all training the same ‘muscle’ – our emotional brain.
The EmPower programme includes:
An education seminar so you understand your mental fitness thoroughly. You participate in this with a group
Analysing what you need to do, and what your desired outcomes are
Creating your desired outcomes and actions with expert support
A 12-week training programme of simple and easy actions, supported by:
o Our tracker app
o Your group
o Our experts
12 mini-seminars (online) for further learning, reinforcement and momentum
A graduation and sign-off.
If you are interest on behalf of yourself, a group of friends or family, your workplace or social group, please do not hesitate to be in touch.
Please visit www.em-po.com for more information or contact Duncan or Nikita on connection@em-po.com.
OK. Right. That’s this blog written. What is next on the list? Ah yes – more squats.
Inspired by Alan’s journey? Join him live on April 30th as he shares exactly how you can build mental fitness and stress resilience in your own life
EmPower does not treat mental illness. If you suspect you are unwell, consult a medical professional. If your life experience is traumatic, it might be necessary to treat the trauma before embarking on a journey towards mental fitness. Please ask us for an assessment if you like.