Welcome to Week Three! Celebrate yourself as you’re halfway through the Combatting Burnout video series. 🎉This week we are working through managing our stressors. 

In simplest terms, stressors are the external or internal entities that cause a stress reaction. These stressors can be real or imagined; regardless, the body reacts the same. Let me give you a few scenarios to help explain.

• External/Real:  Every time I interact with my mother-in-law, I experience major stress.
• External/Real:  Some months, my paycheck doesn’t cover all my needs.
• External/Imagined: You once had a bad interaction with a dog. Now when I interact with a dog, even though it might not be aggressive, my mind/body still reacts.

• Internal/Real:  I hold a high standard for myself and how I show up in my environment.  If I don’t meet my own standard, I am stressed.
• Internal/Real:  I am lonely.  I am afraid I will always be alone.
• Internal/Imagined:  When people whisper around me, I know they are talking about me and do not like me.

Combatting stressors take the strength of vulnerability to sit with ourselves for a time and write down those external/internal/real & imagined stressors. List them all out and add to the list as you think of more.  Then you can be ready to not only recognize when they are at work but also devise a plan to deal with the stressors in your life.

WEEK 3 CHALLENGE:

For this week, return to your original list of stressors from week one. Anything to add? Review your list and pick one of the stressors that are within your control. 

Now, take a moment to consider your options (Procedural Self-Talk). Challenge yourself to think outside of your current perspective about this stressor. What do you need to assist in reducing or removing this stressor from your life? 

Choose ONE action step (big or small) that you can do THIS WEEK to begin managing that stressor differently.

Comment below! When do you plan to take this action? Once you have, come back and let us know how it felt. Did it work? What’s the next best thing you can do now?

Remember… You can do hard things and