3 Simple Ways You Can Use Stress to Your Advantage
Stress doesn’t have to be a bad thing.
It’s easy for stress to create havoc in our lives. When stressed and worried, you may think the worst about situations, constantly deliberate on past events and panic about the future.
Sadly, the stressors that are present can create a stress cycle, which affects our thoughts, behaviour, emotions and physical reactions.
Say you feel stressed because you had a frosty encounter with your manager over a piece of work you handed in, you might:
- Think that you’re no good because your manager wasn't impressed.
- Feel down and upset with your performance.
- Start to show withdrawal behaviours.
- Start to lose sleep over the situation because you’re thinking too much.
If the stressor is still present, this cycle will repeat and you’ll feel worse.
But, what if the stress your experiencing didn't have to be a bad thing? What if you could use stress to motivate you? What if there was a way that you can use stress to your advantage?
Well, there is! I’m going to tell you three different ways you can use stress to your advantage. Let’s dive in!
1. View stress as a motivating factor
“The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.” — William James.
The key here is to view stress under a different lens. Think about stress in a different way to tackle it and use it to your advantage.
One way is to view the stress you’re experiencing as a motivating, driving, factor. Use it to push you and fuel your journey.
Research published in the Health Psychology Journal found that individuals who perceived stress as affecting their health had poorer physical health outcomes and greater psychological distress.
On the other hand, in the same research, those people that perceived stress as having little impact on their health had reduced psychological distress.
This tells us that the way we view stress can determine how it affects us.
Instead of getting bogged down by stress, embrace it!
For example:
When I swam competitively, before every race, I’d have a natural stress response. My palms would be sweaty, my heart would be beating out of my chest, my throat was dry and I was anxious. But, instead of viewing it as “Oh no, I’m going to mess this race up”, I saw this stress response as a sign I was ready. I saw it as excitement. I saw it as, “Ok, now I’m alert and ready to go”. I used this stress response as my driving force, and without it, I knew I wasn't ready.
Your interpretation, perspective and thoughts all influence how you react to stress. If you embrace it and see it as a sign that you’re ready, you’ll be able to use stress to push you forward rather than hold you back.
“The best way to manage stress isn’t to reduce or avoid it, but rather to rethink and even embrace it.” — Kelly McGonigal
2. Find out about your stressors
Clinical psychologist and Medium writer Nick Wignall mentions:
“Stress is your reaction to a stressor. And a stressor is anything that causes a stress reaction.”
Because stress is the result of a stressor, a great way to use stress to your advantage is to find out why you are stressed.
Use this time of being stressed as a way of finding out more about yourself, what worries you and what you find hard to deal with.
If you figure out what your stressors are, you can manage them or even eliminate them.
Ask yourself these two questions when stressed:
What is it about this situation/event that is making me feel stressed?
Have I felt this way before due to this event/situation?
Both of these questions can help you think more about your stressors. The more you are aware of your stressors, the more likely it is that you can tackle your stress and reduce these feelings.
3. Stress has positive effects too
Stress isn’t just a negative thing. Our stress response is actually a survival mechanism that prepares us for situations.
Stress has been linked to different positive effects:
- It can be good for learning.
- It can make people give and receive emotional support.
- It has been found to enhance child development.
- It can enhance the ability to mentally and emotionally cope with a crisis.
Simply knowing that stress can have positive effects can help massively.
Whenever I was stressed at university due to exams or handing in an assignment, I knew that the stress I felt was actually helpful. I knew it was good for my learning and development. I actually managed to complete more work when under stress.
As John Whyte, a former chief medical expert said:
“Occasional stress can help keep you focused and improve your recall, which can be a plus when cramming for that test or preparing for an important presentation at work.”
These positive effects of stress are referring to mild stress rather than more long-term chronic stress, which can be harmful. That’s why it’s also important to understand your stressors — to reduce the effect of chronic stress.
Just by knowing that stress isn’t going to harm you is a great way to utilise stress to your advantage as you are aware of the positive effects stress can bring. If you’re aware of these positive effects, you are more likely to welcome stress.
Final Thoughts
Stress is inevitable in life. You won’t ever be able to completely stop feeling stressed in all situations.
Instead of letting stress affect your life, we can use it to our advantage and look at it differently.
If you can’t get rid of stress, you might as well take it on board and utilise it as a source of energy to keep you going in these tough times.
The three ways we can do that are:
- View stress as motivation: Embrace stress, view it as a driving force and you will see the positive effects that can occur.
- Find out about your stressors: When you’re stressed, do a bit of self-reflection to find out why. If you know your stressors you can take steps to reduce stress.
- Know that stress can be positive: Research tells us stress produces some amazing effects. Knowing that will help you welcome stress.