A Way To Mitigate Your Stress Response.

“Workload, looming deadlines, relationship problems, -financial difficulties, arguments, wipe-outs, injuries, drowning, sharks. So many things to stress about!

Stress is an inevitable part of life. It can be highly motivating but at the same time completely debilitating. 

It's interesting to sit back and honestly consider how much of your stress is either due to physical fears or egoic fears.  

Even though I have to deal with violent wipeouts, near drowning, painful injuries, and sharks. The majority of my stress is still Egoic. 

When I say Egoic, I mean rather than physical injury, there is a fear of damage to my sense of self. Fear of failure, embarrassment, the fear of not being liked or loved. That incessant voice in my head that is telling me I'm not good enough or that I don't deserve this. 

It's interesting how our bodies respond to these fear's as though they are life-threatening. Maybe they are old engrained fear patterns that we are stuck with from a time when being part of a tribe did determine life or death? Whatever the reason, it is important not to let these fears dictate our lives or wear us out. 

A technique that I use to mitigate my stress response to certain situations is to "step out of the movie" for a moment. 

I visualise the stressful situation as though it is playing out on a movie screen as I sit back in a comfy cinema chair. Doing this seems to put a halt on my sub-conscious baggage carrying reactions. 

More often than not I find myself sitting back in my cinema chair laughing at how I first responded to the situation, especially when I use it for egoic stress. 

It works for physically scary and painful situations too. 

I used it recently after being smashed into the reef by a wave. The wipeout destroyed my knee, tore an artery in my leg and severely damaged my nerves. As I laid on the beach waiting for the medics to arrive, I visualised the situation playing out on a movie screen while I sat back and watched from a distance. 

I'm not going to pretend like all my pain when away, but I was able to noticeably slow my heart rate down and hold off a full-blown panic attack. The surgeon said I was one hour from losing my leg. Maybe it made the difference? 

Try it out; it should help you let go of any past emotional baggage you might be carrying in the present moment.