How’s your stress level?
Stress is a normal part of life. We all feel it sometimes! And lately, it feels like we’re even more stressed than usual — we’re worried about our jobs, our families, our health… and the pandemic isn’t making any of that easier.
While some stress is normal, this much isn’t healthy. We’ve got to find a better way to manage our stress so we can live the healthiest, happiest lives possible. Here’s the good news: I’ve got stress-expert Kelly McGonigal here to teach us what to do.
Kelly is a genius. She’s a leader in the field of wellness and stress management, and she’s carefully studied stress and self-control. She even has a new book out: The Joy of Movement: How Exercise Helps Us Find Happiness, Hope, Connection, and Courage. It’s a fascinating book that I know is going to change a lot of lives.
Kelly is on a mission to figure out what practical steps we can take in our day-to-day lives to increase our mental well-being and maximize our potential as humans. And today, we’re diving deep into some of her research and wisdom! We’re talking about how you can actually make stress your friend, why being active is just as important for your brain as it is for your body, the four steps you can take to defeat depression, and so much more. This interview is interesting, exciting, and powerful. Let’s get started!
Who Is Kelly McGonigal?
Kelly McGonigal, PhD is a health psychologist at Stanford University, as well as a best-selling author and popular TED speaker. She specializes in the mind-body connection, and her research is impacting tons of people and empowering them to manage their stress and start living happier and more hopeful lives.
Kelly has written multiple books, often drawing from the popular courses she teaches at Stanford for research and inspiration. Her first book, The Willpower Instinct, is based on her course “The Science of Willpower,” and her second, The Upside of Stress, grew out of the course “Living Well with Stress.” Her latest book, The Joy of Movement, didn’t grow out of a class, but it’s still full of great information about how physical exercise can be a powerful antidote for anxiety, depression, and loneliness.
In addition to being a prolific writer and popular Stanford professor, Kelly’s also a hit on YouTube! Her TED Talk, “How to Make Stress Your Friend,” has received over 10 million views, and I have a feeling it’s about to receive a lot more. It’s an inspiring message about why stress can actually be helpful, and it suggests that reaching out to others can be an incredible way to reduce stress in our lives.
Beyond her academic work, Kelly is passionate about giving back, and she does a lot of work with the Stanford Center for Compassion and Altruism. In fact, she helped create the Stanford Compassion Cultivation Training, a course taught worldwide to help individuals develop greater empathy, compassion, and social connection.
And as if all that weren’t enough, Oprah’s O Magazine named Kelly the first-ever O! Visionary and celebrated her as a person whose groundbreaking way of seeing the world means a better future for us all.
Kelly McGonigal is an inspiring person. Her research is making the world a better, less stressed-out place every day. I’m so excited to have her here on The School of Greatness today!
Here’s the Truth About Stress
Can stress actually be good for you? Does it save our lives or kill us? Kelly trained as a health psychologist and was initially taught to view stress as the enemy. But her perspective changed ten years ago when she came across an insightful article:
“It was a study that tracked about 30,000 adults for almost a decade in the U.S. At the beginning of the study, they asked people first, ‘How stressful is your life? And then also, ‘Do you believe that your stress … is bad for your health?’… And what they found is that for the subset of people who had very stressful [lives] and most strongly believed that their stress was harmful, they had a 43% increased risk of dying from any cause over the next decade. But the people who had the most stressful lives and did not strongly believe that stress was bad for them, they were the most likely to be alive at the end of the decade. … This study caught my attention because first of all, it suggests that stress is not always the enemy.” – Kelly McGonigal
So if stress isn’t the enemy, what is? Why do we see so many people suffering from stressful lifestyles? Kelly explained that it really comes to how our brains handle stress — not the stress itself.
How do you respond to stress? Do you automatically view it as negative? Because if you do, your body is going to have a negative response. But if we can rewire our stress response into something positive, then we set ourselves up for success.
“Stress is what arises in you when something that you care about is at stake. It’s your thoughts, your emotions, your biology … it’s the adrenaline. … It’s all the stuff that emerges to help you meet a moment that matters. … In moments of stress … some of [your] instincts are going to be healthy and helpful and others are not. So rather than stress being good or bad, it’s about learning more about your stress responses.” – Kelly McGonigal
What are some healthy ways to respond to stress? Kelly gave a few great examples. Maybe you need to slow down for a bit and meditate. Perhaps you need to reach out to a friend or family member for help. Or maybe you’re in a situation where you have to rise to the challenge and let your adrenaline take over. Before reacting to stress, take a moment to ask yourself, “How should I respond to this situation?”
Believe it or not, stress is actually very similar to excitement on a physiological level. Your heart’s pounding, hormones are running through your bloodstream, and you’re full of energy. The negativity and positivity come in once you attach a meaning to that energy. If you can push into that stressful energy and view it as excitement, your brain chemistry will start to change over time.
“We know that as soon as people do that, it starts to subtly shift their physiology in a way that actually is a little bit healthier than a fight or flight response. So, you’re relaxed. You get more energy [and] less inflammation in your body. You’re starting to move towards a stress state that really is just helping you have energy and courage and enjoy the moment. And it also increases positive emotions like confidence and enthusiasm. It makes you better able to connect with other people too.” – Kelly McGonigal
Who knew that stress could be good for you? It all comes down to how you respond and what stories you choose to tell yourself. It might take time to change the narrative, but once you do, you’ll find that stressful situations will give you the adrenaline and enthusiasm to accomplish great things.
