Recognize the Differences

How many times a day do you think you say “Ah! I’m so Stressed!”?

What if I told you that every time you say that you may not actually be stressed? Instead, you may be Afraid or Anxious or Worried. Knowing the differences can help us to understand what we are actually feeling, which then gives us more information in order to react in a conscious way. It also changes our relationship with stress. 

FEAR is an untaught, instinctive reaction, fight-flight-freeze. For example, when starting a new job we may be afraid that we won’t be good enough so we start retreating and saying things like “whatever, I don’t really care,” or we start resisting/fighting, acting out to others, or we start saying things to ourselves like “What if I fail? What if I can’t do it?”

Fear can lead to WORRY which is defined as repetitive and recurring thoughts. Anxiety can also lead to worry. 

ANXIETY is unwarranted or excessive fear. For example, social anxiety is common and is when people fear that others won’t like them or accept them or they won’t fit in. These thoughts occur even before they have interacted with the people so there isn’t any basis for the fear. 

Worry can then lead to STRESS. Stress can also be defined as the perceived inability to meet demands. 

Take the above examples. If the person doesn’t notice that they are initially afraid or anxious and use an intervention tool to release that fear or anxiety then it will develop into worry. The worry will continue to develop and grow into this overwhelming stressor and initiate a stress reactivity which results in a strain. (Check out yesterday’s post to learn more about those) 

If you catch yourself saying “I’m stressed,” take a moment to see if you’re actually afraid or anxious or worried. Once you have figured that out, ask yourself some questions: What am I afraid of? What is worrying me? What’s the underlying fear of this anxiety? What can I do to release some of this tension? 

Stay tuned for some intervention tools!

#Stress #StressManagement #Fear #Anxiety #Worry #PersonalDevelopment #ProfessionalDevelopment #Coaching #Health #Wellness #Wellbeing #PeakPerformance #Education