Manage That Stress

Homaira Kabir reflects on how we can deal with the daily demons of stress and that feeling of being overwhelmed.

- Homaira Kabir

Stress is a natural phenomenon that’s beneficial for our growth and wellbeing. It’s the body’s built-in survival response to external stress factors, that not only keeps us safe, it also builds our capabilities, and gives us the confidence that comes from knowing “I can do it!”

You know the feeling when you wake up exhausted and dread going to work? Or when the vacation you take to recover from work pressures only lasts until the end of the month?

We’ve all been there. It’s the common (and falsely) known ailment called stress. And it’s this very misconception that stands in the way of us getting the relief we need.

Stress is a natural phenomenon that’s beneficial for our growth and wellbeing. It’s the body’s built-in survival response to external stress factors that not only keeps us safe but also build our capabilities, and give us the confidence that comes from knowing “I can do it!”

The stress response is short-lived, and returns our bodies to a state of calm once it is over. You see it in animals wildly chasing a prey or desperately fleeing a predator, and then returning to a state of calm shortly after. But not us humans! We spend the rest of our day fretting over what just happened, frightening ourselves with what could have happened. We torment ourselves by playing the scene over and over again in our minds until the stress has taken a life of its own.