Stress Less: How to find hope when the problems feel too big

Tap in to your superpowers

View this email online Week 2 of 5 By NPR health correspondent Allison Aubrey.    You have the power to make a difference, even when things seem out of your control. We'll teach you these skills from Northwestern’s resilience course to help you do that: 🐠 Personal strengths and 🎯 Attainable goals.   But first, I want to tell you a story about a young environmentalist who was struggling with climate anxiety. Find hope in the face of stressors you can’t control When Jada Alexander was a student at UC Santa Barbara, she was studying coral reefs in French Polynesia and she was captivated. The reefs were teeming with crabs and fish. When she went back a year later, “it was gray, like a ghost town,” she says. She felt hopeless. Then she signed up for a new Climate Resilience course held at University of California campuses. It teaches skills designed to turn climate distress into action.  The class helped Jada reengage and “lean into the positive,” she says. And while she still fears for the planet, she now feels she can “be part of the solution,” she says. She graduated and is starting an initiative to help kids connect to nature through surfing.  “There’s an arc — or a process — for leading people out of these dark inner worlds where they feel alone,” says Elissa Epel, a professor and psychologist who co-directs the class, along with a team of collaborators.  🌟 Try this: Turn gripes to joy This was a popular exercise from the course. Find a friend to do this with. For two minutes, complain about anything and everything you want. Share all your gripes. Take the next two minutes to talk about things that bring you joy, that you’re grateful for. Now it’s your partner’s turn. Notice how you feel while they share, especially the good stuff. You can feel positivity spread.  As for me, I’d been in a funk about the planet too. But after reporting on this course, I’m reengaged and back to doing my part: I’m cutting back on food waste and single-use plastic, and I've started driving a hybrid electric car.  Below is one of my favorite practices from the Climate Resilience course: 🌟 Try this: Write a letter to your future self This exercise gives you a chance to step back from the daily grind and ask, “Am I on the path I want to be on?"  Start by imagining yourself at some date in the future, a year from now or even 20 or 30 years down the road. What do you hope for yourself? Where do you want to be? What have you overcome? Maybe you’ve moved on from a dead-end job or have made a difference to a cause you believe in.  Alternately, imagine what you’d say to yourself if you had given up. Ask yourself: Am I disappointed? Is it too late? What do these regrets tell you? Lessons in resilience from Northwestern University 🐠 Personal Strengths + 🎯 Attainable Goals Each week, we’re bringing you a taste of the skills taught in Northwestern’s resilience course from researcher Judith Moskowitz. To take the course and join a research study, sign up here. This week, the big idea is that you do have the power to make a difference. Understanding your own strengths can build confidence to face problems large or small.  Next, you need to put your strengths to use: “Research shows that any progress toward a goal increases your positive emotion,” Moskowitz says.  Here how to get started:   🛠 Build this skill: Write down your superpowers Is there something you do well? There are probably multiple things. And you can turn to these strengths when you’re experiencing a stressful situation. Take a quiet moment to write down your superpowers. It could be qualities like flexibility, creativity or patience. Very specific stuff, like making a great omelet or being a whiz at puzzles, counts too! If you’re really struggling to come up with anything, Moskowitz says, ask a friend. How would they describe you? 🛠 Build this skill: Create clear and realistic goals No one is expecting you to cure cancer or single-handedly reverse climate change. Any goal you set should be realistic and clear, and should involve steps that you can control. One example: Instead of saying you want to get a new job, your goal can be to send out a certain number of résumés each week. So pull out a notebook and craft some goals. “I find it extremely rewarding to cross something off of my list,” says Moskowitz. We do too! Stress Science 101: Stress isn’t all bad. Here’s how it helps us You may think stress is terrible, but we wouldn’t have evolved to experience it if it wasn’t actually helpful — at least, some of the time.  When you sense danger, part of your nervous system is activated without you even thinking about it. The pace of your breathing increases, distributing more oxygen-rich blood to the brain and body. This gives your body what it needs to fight or flee a physical threat. Today much of the stress we face comes from the challenges or opportunities we seek out: a job interview, giving a presentation, taking an exam.  And during these situations, a little stress can be helpful too, says stress researcher Wendy Berry Mendes of Yale University. “I need oxygenated blood to my brain to help me think faster,” she says. So if you’re facing a short-term stressor like a presentation at work, you can tap into the positive side of stress.  “The biggest hurdle in how people respond to stress is the belief that it’s bad for you,” says psychologist Jeremy Jamieson, of the Social Stress Lab at the University of Rochester.  “Your heart is racing, and your palms are sweaty. But that isn’t a signal that you’re going to fail.” It’s your body preparing for you to kick butt. 🌟Try this: Don’t get stressed — get pumped! Jamieson says you can apply this science next time you face a big challenge. Simply say, “Get excited!” or “I am excited!” And build that into your mindset as you head into an anxiety-generating event, he says.  His research has shown if you tell students that stress can be beneficial before an exam, some will do even better.  Final words ... Like this newsletter? Forward it to a friend and tell them to sign up for the Stress Less series. Want to go deeper? Read more of Allison Aubrey's reporting on stress and resilience. Talk to us! Please share your thoughts about this newsletter and your tips for coping with stress. Write us at thrive@npr.org and we may use your tips in an upcoming story or newsletter.  Please note: These strategies have been shown to be beneficial for people dealing with stress from tough situations, but are not a replacement for mental health treatments such as counseling or medication. All artwork by Maria Fabrizio. Art direction by Katie Hayes Luke. Editing and additional reporting by Vicky Hallett and Carmel Wroth, with Emily Barocas, Malaka Gharib, Jane Greenhalgh, Joy Yoo, Arielle Retting and Anandita Bhalerao. This email was sent by: National Public Radio 1111 North Capitol Street NE Washington, DC, 20002, US   If you have any questions, please submit a help ticket here. Unsubscribe  |  Update Preferences  |  Privacy Policy