Harnessing Stress: Transforming Pressure into Personal Strength | Taiwanica Podcast

What if stress wasn't your enemy, but your secret weapon for growth and resilience? In this episode, we demystify stress and flip conventional wisdom on its head, showing you how it can be a powerful force for personal development. We explore stress as an essential emotion triggered by life's challenges, much like how trees grow sturdier under the strain of the wind. You'll learn about cortisol, the chemical that heightens alertness but can also lead to anxiety when unchecked, and how to recognize signs of excessive stress. We provide actionable advice on re-framing your perspective and tackling stress-inducing tasks head-on.

Next, we delve into practical ways to manage stress by honing in on lifestyle choices. Discover how your thoughts, diet, and caffeine intake can either heighten or alleviate stress levels. We'll break down the impact of cortisol and how sleep and food choices play a crucial role in managing it. You'll get real-life examples of how caffeine affects your stress and sleep patterns and the importance of understanding your digestion timelines to avoid carrying stress into the next day. Join us for this insightful conversation aimed at helping you achieve a more balanced, stress-free life.

Chapters

• 0:01 Understanding Stress
• 10:36 Managing Stress Through Lifestyle Choices

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

This is episode 88, talking about stress. Welcome back everyone to Taiwanica podcast. This is your host, eric, here back again after a short break, but wonderful to be here for Papa, and the perfect timing too, because it is Father's Day in Taiwan. So, to all you dads out there, happy Father's Day to you. It's going to be a fun episode, I guarantee it. Don't stress out.

Speaker 1: 0:34

All right, all the corny jokes aside, now what we're talking about today is something that everyone experiences stress. But a lot of people believe that stress simply is a negative thing. But I want to challenge that idea today, for you to tell you actually stress could be a good thing, but we just have to change our mindset about it. What is stress, how does it work and what can we do to change that mindset are going to be the three big things about today's episode. It's going to be quick, but I think you're going to really enjoy what you learned today. So let's go ahead and dive on in.

Speaker 1: 1:19

So let's start with stress. What is it? Well, stress overall is an emotion. Yes, it's something that we feel when we're in a circumstance or situation that causes us to feel uncomfortable. Okay, it can be something that is related to a change in our life or an upcoming event that we're feeling nervous about, or even something small like, oh, having a conversation with somebody that you don't necessarily have a good relationship with. All these things are related to stress, and there's so much more that we feel in everyday life, and especially in today's society. We feel stress all the time because we're mainly trying to focus on achieving and succeeding and moving forward and growing, and these are all great things. But let's look at something really quick, really quick.

Speaker 1: 2:29

Stress happens not just to humans. It also happens to everything in life, even plants and animals, and when other animals and plants feel stress, we notice something about them. Well, one they're growing and they are maturing, and when that is happening, other things are happening with them, some consequences, like they're feeling weaker or not as confident in doing certain things, and this is why stress can be both a good thing or a negative thing, depending on how you look at it. Can be both a good thing or a negative thing, depending on how you look at it. So let's make an example here. So let's look at a tree. A tree is a very easy thing to look at. When trees are growing into bigger and bigger trees, they actually go through quite a bit of stress to do that. To do that they have to expand and grow deeper into the soil that's around them by pushing and growing in their roots into different locations underground. They also have to expand their tree trunk to become wider and wider and taller and taller. But you notice that a tree when it first starts growing, it actually starts very small. As it keeps growing taller and taller, some of it is actually still pretty weak, so it doesn't get that strong, very robust, powerful look of a tree until much later, and that's usually after when most of the stress of actually growing into a tree is over. Then it just slowly becomes more and more expansive.

Speaker 1: 4:18

So for us as humans, when we are experiencing stress, we tend to believe that we need to constantly achieve and grow, and that's a good thing, don't get me wrong. To constantly achieve and grow is definitely a's a good thing, don't get me wrong. To constantly achieve and grow is definitely a way to live life. But to always be like that without any rest can cause a lot of damage to the body. And the reason for it is because when humans experience stress we have a chemical that's going on inside of our body. That chemical is called cortisol.

Speaker 1: 4:55

Cortisol is created when we are experiencing something that makes us feel scared or threatened, or even worried or fearful, and this chemical is produced in parts of our body like the liver. And when we are producing this chemical, this is starting to be spread all around our body. And what it does? It helps us start to become more alert and aware of what's going on, and that's a good thing. It's good to be more aware and alert about what's going on, and that's a good thing. It's good to be more aware and alert about what's going on.

Speaker 1: 5:36

But the thing that makes cortisol not so good is that when we have too much of it, we start to get things like anxiety or fearing, things that are really small. Another word for that would be paranoia. These kind of ideas and experiences are not necessarily good for us, and so the question is how do we know when we've had too much cortisol or too much stress in our bodies? Well, the easiest way to know that stress has become negative inside of your life is when you start to worry too much or overthink things, and overthinking here doesn't mean that you're thinking too much, it just means that you're thinking about one thing over and over and over again. When you're experiencing these kind of moments, that's probably because there's a lot of stress going on in your life and in order to resolve it, obviously it's to look at it from a different point of view or to complete the thing that is having you feel all the stress, and sometimes it's easy to get the thing done.

Speaker 1: 6:52

But sometimes, especially in the world that we live in, we have things like deadlines and projects and meetings, and when we have these, they have certain future dates that are out of our control. So sometimes people will feel stressed between the time that you're preparing for it and the time it actually happens. Even when things are already all prepared and ready to go, stress can still be there. So now we're going to go into how do we notice that this stress is there and also what can we do about it. Okay, so how do we notice that the stress is there and also what can we do about it? Okay, so how do we notice that the stress is there?

Speaker 1: 7:38

Well, some things that you'll notice, besides the thinking that we just talked about, is some body interactions. Some of those body interactions that we're going to be noticing are maybe you're breathing fast, faster than you usually do. So a normal person, they breathe about 11 to 12 breaths every minute. So when we're noticing that, when we're noticing we're breathing faster than 11 or 12 breaths a minute, that means that we're probably breathing a little bit too fast, which stress can be high at that moment. And then another thing that we can notice is when we are feeling a little bit overwhelmed in our body. Maybe you're noticing your heart is beating faster than normal, or your eyes are moving around more than usual, or maybe you're shaking, okay, or even you have sweaty palms, like your hands are wet, or your feet are wet, or maybe, if you're a person like this is a bad habit that I have when I'm stressed is that I'll pick at something. Maybe it's nails or hair, or, if you are a guy, you have a, a beard. You might pick at that. You know something. That is what we would say fidgeting, you know, like shaking your leg. All of these are symptoms of having a lot of stress. So now, what do we do when we notice these?

Speaker 1: 9:09

Because this is the most important thing that a lot of people don't realize they have the power to do is that you can actually use that energy, the stress energy, for a better cause, and that is simply acknowledging the stress. So when people feel stress, they say, oh god, I don't want to feel stressed, I hate this feeling, I don't want to feel this feeling anymore. When they go through this kind of experience of feeling this negativity and avoiding the actual stress, in reality, the stress isn't going anywhere, it's still hanging out, and so what we want to do in this kind of moment is to simply say, oh, there's the stress, okay, I'm acknowledging it right now. There's the stress Okay, now that I'm experiencing the stress and saying I notice you are there, I can do something about it. So the cool thing about stress is that it actually gets us really focused, and so if we notice that, that means we can say, oh, I'm stressed. What can I use this stress for? Maybe I have a project that I can do right now Okay, let's go do it. Maybe I have a project that I can do right now Okay, let's go do it.

Speaker 1: 10:36

And so you're actually utilizing the energy that's there instead of allowing it to just focus on the thing that's out of your control. Pretty cool, huh? So acknowledging stress means that you're accessing the power of stress. And when you access the power of stress. And when you access the power of stress, you can now redirect your focus onto something that is inside of your control, rather than focusing on something that's not, and doing that means you're actually being able to accomplish the things that you want to do. Yeah, it's a pretty cool technique, but now that you know that, you have to also realize well, there's some cases that, even if you do know this that too much stress can still be a bad thing, and the best thing to do in order to lower stress is to obviously understand where is your stress coming from?

Speaker 1: 11:35

And, yes, outside circumstances are definitely stressful, like all the things we mentioned before meetings, talking to people that you don't like, or going to places that you don't like. These can cause stress. These are outward experiences, but we also have inward experiences that can create stress Because, remember, stress is an inside feeling, which means we create it, so we have to think about it. What are some of the things that can also cause stress on the inside? Well, obviously, your thoughts can do that, so thinking about a stressful thing over and over and over again would cause you to have stress. So if you're thinking, oh man, I'm really stressed out thinking about talking to that pretty girl at the bar and you keep thinking about that over and over and over again. Well then, yeah, obviously you're going to have more stress, okay, but there's more things than just thoughts that can create stress. Remember, it's a chemical cortisol. Cortisol is a chemical and that means it's created by something. Thoughts create chemicals as well, but also food creates chemicals, and anything else that we consume can create a chemical, and anything else that we consume can create a chemical.

Speaker 1: 13:03

So let's talk about food and drinks for a minute here. So one of the things that a lot of people like to drink that creates cortisol is caffeine. Yeah, I know A lot of people love their coffee and they love their tea. I definitely understand, but we have to understand that these two things that give us energy and they taste really good also have caffeine, and caffeine creates cortisol. Okay, so that means when we drink these things that help us wake up, it's also creating the same thing that creates stress. So that's why you may notice, if you have a friend, or maybe in your own personal experience, that after you drink four or five cups of coffee or tea, you start feeling a little bit too focused or a little bit anxiety, that's because of the cortisol. There's just too much of it in your body at that time. Okay, now we understand what's happening here. So food can do that too. There are certain foods, especially like spicy foods, um, garlic and onion garlic and onion things that can stimulate your nervous system. Okay, they are also capable of creating the same reaction.

Speaker 1: 14:29

So we want to just be aware of what are some of the things that I have in my diet as well, and also sleep, of course. How much sleep am I getting? Because sleep is related to how we rest and digest. What that just basically means is, with the resting part, when we're sleeping, we are helping our body to regenerate or heal, and if we don't sleep enough, then we're not allowing the cortisol that's in our body to be cleaned up, and so when we wake up the next day, we might have some remaining cortisol from the day before, and so that means we're just bringing the stress from yesterday to today as well. So rest is very important. Knowing how much rest you need is also very important, so be aware of that for yourself. How much rest you need is also very important, so be aware of that for yourself and then digesting so food, right? So there are certain foods that you eat that create cortisol, or drinks that create cortisol, also understanding how those need to be digested or cleaned up out of your body before the next day. So we use tea and coffee as an example. So we're going to just go back to that same example today to talk about how we can make it so that those are affecting you the day after.

Speaker 1: 15:53

So let's look at both of these. They both have caffeine in them, have caffeine in them, and usually caffeine just so you know has a about an eight to 14 hour lifetime inside your body. What does that mean? So when you drink coffee let's say you drink coffee at 5pm Okay, what that means is is that the caffeine inside your body can stay inside of your body for the next 8 to 14 hours. Okay, well, that's a pretty long time. It really depends on the person and you should understand how well you digest food to know what amount, how many hours, are for you. It could even be less for some people, about six hours. So, just understanding what is the timeline that really matches with your lifestyle and how sensitive are you to caffeine.

Speaker 1: 16:56

So I'll give you a personal example For me. I digest food rather quickly, so if I drink caffeine, I usually don't drink caffeine past 2 pm, just simply because I really value my sleep and I also sleep very early. So what happens is when I drink caffeine at 2 pm as my last drink of coffee or tea for the day, that would mean that all of the caffeine and cortisol should be digested and completed by around 8 to 9 pm, pretty close to my bedtime. Okay, so that means I'm not bringing any of the stress with me to the next day. Does that make sense? So when we're looking at you, what is going on with you when it comes to your stress? Are you doing something physically when it comes to eating or drinking, that is creating stress and cortisol? And if so, should you adjust that so that less of it is accumulated during your sleep time and that way your next day you can start it off stress-free? It's something to really consider. So that's the idea of today's topic.

Speaker 1: 18:22

Stress can be a very good thing for you if you know how to use it. It can be a tool by acknowledging it, that it's there, and when you do that, you'll be surprised how much more focused you are on the task rather than the thing that is causing you stress in the back of your mind. Notice that stress happens to everybody. It doesn't matter how old or how young you are, what country you're from everyone experiences stress. But how long we stay in stress right now in our society is very long. Sometimes people only live in stress because they don't realize that there are ways to move in and out of it, and we can talk more about that in another episode.

Speaker 1: 19:10

But for today's purpose, simply understanding that there are ways to manage your stress is possible, as long as you realize that it comes from a chemical called cortisol. Okay, so understand what cortisol is is very important. And then, where are you getting your cortisol from? Like your food, your sleep, the things that you drink and the timing that you have with those things are all very important. Timing that you have with those things are all very important. So finding ways to digest all of these things, like timing the times that you drink them or eat them, or doing things like even exercise or meditation, are ways to help yourself relieve these things even more. Now that you have these understandings, remember that cortisol is just here because you created it. It's not a good thing or a bad thing. It's just a chemical. So have more awareness of what's going on inside of you so that when things do happen outside of you that are stressful, you'll be able to manage them better, because, in the end, we cannot control any of the things that are happening outside of us, but we are capable of responding to them well when we know what's going on inside of us. Okay, so that's all I wanted to share with you today about stress.

Speaker 1: 20:42

I hope you found it very interesting and, if you did, please definitely give this episode a thumbs up and follow us on wherever you're following us, and definitely feel free to let us know how you felt about them by sending us a text on our website. Great to listen to have you all listen to this. I don't know, I just sit there. Let me do that again. Thank you so much for listening here to taiwanica podcast. We hope to have you join us again in the next episode. Until then, my name is eric. Take care everybody.