This morning I heard a report about pupils feeling anxious about the start of the school year. Demands, performance and the fear of not being enough awaken stress and performance anxiety. And the same thing happens in our workplaces.
We often talk about stress as if it were negative in itself – something we should preferably avoid. But stress is also a natural part of being human. It helps us mobilise energy, focus, and meet what matters to us.
So perhaps the question is not always:
How do I get rid of the stress?
But rather:
How can I learn to be with what is awakened in me when I feel pressure?
Curiosity instead of resistance
Feeling nervous, uncertain or anxious about performing does not necessarily mean something is wrong. Sometimes it simply means we are in the middle of something that matters to us.
When we learn to meet our inner reactions with curiosity instead of immediately trying to remove them, we build something enormously valuable: emotional resilience.
Because a living life is not a life without stress, demands or discomfort. It is a life in which we have the capacity to feel, to cope and to recover – and to stay curious about life even when it chafes.
In our course A conflict – how exciting you get tools for exactly this. You learn – and can in turn teach your children – to increase emotional resilience, meet strong feelings and handle the challenges life inevitably brings.
Not in order to create a life without stress and discomfort. But to create a greater capacity to live fully, in the middle of life.
And perhaps that is precisely when life becomes a little more wonderful to live. ❤️
Eva Berlander & Co
