It can be easy to think stress is bad and try to avoid it – but the truth is you can intentionally use stress to grow and to build your resilience. The key is to balance stress with recovery.
There are two barriers that often prevent us from showing up as our best self fully present and engaged in our life and work. These barriers are the mismanagement of energy and insufficient energy capacity. Let’s take a few moments to discuss what these barriers look like in our lives.
To understand what these barriers are showing up in your life take a few minutes at the end of your day to do this brief activity:
How are you mismanaging your energy? Write down what you would characterize as poor energy management.
- Doing too many things at once
- Saying “yes” to everything
- Social media
- Relationships
- Worrying about things you can’t control
Write down what you would characterize as insufficient energy capacity.
- Angry
- Dong bare minimum
- Guilt
- Negativity
- Tired
- Unhappy
- Distracted
- Scattered
Remember stress and recovery can be powerful opportunities to grow and to build your resilience.