21 Comments

Nice post Kyle. This line is so key: "Most stressors are not life or death."

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They sure feel like it when we are reacting or ruminating on them.

Always looking for controllables.

Appreciate you Wendy

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Amazing post! This is like the blueprint for all manner of stress busting techniques! Some here I've never heard of before, like the 90 second count, which I will for sure start trying. Great to see a list of options with a low barrier to entry, which can be critical for really stressed out folks.

Thank you so much for the mention! Haha also glad to see at least one adult other than me is still using the word blankie. 😂

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Hahahaha I always like to insert silliness both into my posts and live presentations. I will feel like a presentation is a failure if I don’t make anyone laugh not matter how well it goes otherwise

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I think laughter is key to reslience!

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It’s one of my favorite strategies for sure

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Let me second that. I’ve lived a long life and have put myself intentionally in to very stressful situations. Think military OCS, flight school, working in companies with a less than pleasant bosses. My mantra has always been to keep my sense of humor. Sometimes I succeeded!🤣 Only in two cases has it failed abjectly. Combat and Kyle’s workouts, especially Trunk Trouble.

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Being able to laugh during tough times has always given me the space and perspective I need to handle it well, haha but I feel ya, Kyle's workouts are tough!! 😂

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😂😂😂

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Crocodile tears Kyle

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Your beneficial pain is my pleasure

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Wow, we're both thinking about stress today.

I'm super glad I read this and saw that bit about NSDR. I quickly found information about that from Huberman Lab.

Reason it matters to me is those times that I am unable to stay asleep do happen, and there's no solution I can find yet. So, if meditation is a rest option, I'm gonna take it!

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The evidence on NSDR that Huberman goes into/is out there is wild. Don’t need to actually sleep to get damn near the same benefits of sleep. Very empowering and stress reducing!

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There are 4 things I do daily to help myself...music (listening and playing), yoga, time outdoors, and reading.

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Powerful list that covers the mind, body, and spirit!

What instrument do you play?

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Piano, clarinet, ukulele.

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Love it. I’m slowly learning piano along with my daughter and would love to one day add the violin and saxophone to that list.

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This is an outstanding resource! I don't know that the Stoics ever specifically mention stress, but I believe they would absolutely include it in the negative 'passions.' This philosophy is one of virtue ethics- that the virtues are the only good, and everything else is indifferent. So, what we consider bad luck, misfortune, disaster, etc, doesn't matter so long as we remain good people as we navigate it. With that mindset, we can eliminate the negative passions or stress. This perspective would fall under the cognitive tools, but is MUCH easier said than done, LOL!

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I feel like most of what I write is incredibly simple in theory (and my writing style haha) but no where near easy in application.

Good!

Appreciate this feedback and insight brother. I agree, I never see the Stoics talking specifically about stress or resilience, however, they’re consistently providing perspectives and tools to manage and build both respectively.

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Wow, these are great stuff. At some point I realized that simply not working, or not being in the presence of stressors, doesn't equate to active recovery. Recovering your energy require different activities altogether. I've been looking for ways to do that since then, and you just gave me 26. Awesome! Thanks for this.

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👊🏻

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