Often, we face challenges in our lives that affect our well-being significantly. Life challenges can result in stress, and when not well-managed, individuals sink into depression. Kelly McGonigal’s TED Talk challenges us to face our stressful situations positively and ensure that we emerge stronger from our challenges. From McGonigal’s talk, I am convinced that we can use stress to ensure that we become better individuals. It is difficult to avoid finding ourselves in stressful situations because our daily activities and interactions with others will upset us on numerous occasions. Therefore, failure to develop ways to ensure that we benefit from our stress regardless of how huge the challenges might appear will lead to a deterioration of our well-being. The TED Talk provides essential statistics about how one’s view and management of their stress determines their survival chances. It was appalling to realize that individuals who embraced their stressful moments were less likely to die than those who negatively responded to their stressful moments. I have always felt that people must ensure that they remain optimistic and face their challenges positively.
There are numerous benefits to making stress one’s friend, as discussed by McGonigal. One of the most significant benefits is that it helps people increase their productivity and overall well-being. Individuals who fail to embrace stress are likely to be less productive because they feel weak and demotivated. Facing one’s challenges with positivity ensures that one has the courage and energy to make decisions which might have seemed difficult initially. Anxiety and depression are some of the primary effects of stress when poorly managed, and by making it your friend, people ensure that they do not sink into these conditions, which are likely to affect an individual’s well-being significantly. Again, embracing stress helps one achieve and surpass their potential because they are pushed by the determination to overcome the barriers that come their way, and they are capable of understanding how to deal with similar situations whenever they arise in future.
In addition, stress leads to the production of the oxytocin hormone, which is critical in the development of better social relations. Oxytocin hormone increases people’s urge and desire to get closer to their colleagues for assistance on how to overcome the stressful situations before them (McGonigal, 00:08:30). Humans are social, and the prospect of stress helping enhance our social behaviour ensures that we are capable of solving the challenges before us easily. Embracing success helps individuals seek social support, and our societies’ harmony is enhanced because when people have good relations, they are likely to engage cordially. Therefore, making stress your friend is pivotal in improving the social life of individuals.
Despite the numerous benefits of making stress our friend, adopting this mindset presents some threats to our livelihoods. People are forced to work under pressure, for they feel that failure to cope with the prevailing stressful conditions might be interpreted as a show of weakness which might subject them to ridicule. As a result of working under pressure, an individual’s health might be affected and make them suffer from burnout and fatigue which comes from the determination to push your body to work beyond its ability. Again, some people might pretend to be okay when working under stress and when they are unable to hold anymore, they might breakdown. Breakdown due to persistence resistance might be difficult to manage and overcoming such situations is more difficult than if the individuals had developed strategies to overcome stress before it build up. It is vital for people to learn that despite the encouragement and motivation to embrace stress, they should check on their well-being to ensure that they do not suffer adversely from its effects. Making stress your friend can make people live in denial and ultimately be unable to manage the effects when the stress piles up.
If I adopted the concepts submitted in the TED Talk, my life could be both positively and negatively impacted. I could be capable of handling difficult situations in my life better because stress could motivate me to keep going. One of the lessons from the talk is that, stress is a necessary ingredient in our journey toward success. Using the talk’s concepts, I understand that stressful moments in life imply that I am on the right track and I am destined to success if I do not despair in the activities I am involved in. On the negative side, applying the talk’s concepts could see me to push my limits beyond how my body can withstand. This can affect my productivity when ultimately, I am unable to hold anymore and my body potentially crushes down. I will devise sreartegies to strike a balance to ensure that stress management benefits me and the potential negative effects are addressed before they impact my life.
In conclusion, stress is inevitable in our livelihoods and it is important for individuals to understand how to overcome it whenever it faces us. Embracing stress and making it our friend is a vital strategy that eases the pressure and burden that it might cause. Individuals must take the challenge and strive to overcome the difficulties. However, people must be careful to ensure that they do not suffer from the negative effects of stress build up.
Reference
McGonigal, k. (2013): How to make stress your friend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcGyVTAoXEU
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