You know the universe is trying to tell you something when the same information comes to you in different ways. This TED talk did just that. From my own subscription to TED talks, from a friend, and from my daughter who is a freshman in college. And it shares something important – something we all need to know. Because try as we might, I’m not sure we can escape stress.

Stress affects us all, and stress has a bad rap. What fascinated me in this TED talk by Kelly McGonigal is that her explanation that stress may only be bad for us if we believe that to be the case. That if we view stress differently, we can be affected differently. That we have the ability to see stress as a positive, thereby causing its effects to be more positive. And that one of my favorite things to do, reaching out to and connecting with others, is a great way to reduce and handle stress.

I don’t think we can eliminate stress from our lives, and according to Kelly McGonigal’s sharing, we don’t want to. We want to embrace stress when it occurs, and find ways to make our passage through stress more beneficial, to us and to others.

What ways do you practice self-care at work? How can your organization support employees in practicing self-care? Please leave a comment.

If you enjoyed this post, you can read more like it in our book, The Power of Thoughtful Leadership: 101 Minutes To Being the Leader You Want To Be, available on Amazon.


For help making stress your friend, contact Lisa at lkohn@chatsworthconsulting.com.

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