The ability to respond positively to stress is of utmost importance when it comes to dealing with social pressure and the consequent emerging emotions that often intrude between our best intentions and the achievement of what we desire.
When it comes to introducing any change in our life, we need some time to get used to the new routine and adapt ourselves accordingly. At this stage, it is quite easy to stress out: as the brain tries to get comfortable with the new habits, it strives to find a good motivation either to pursue them or to crack down on them as a nonsensical claptrap. There are many reasons why this may happen. You can find the most common below.
Social pressure / Negative buyers around
When people try to switch to some new habits, sometimes they find difficult to get over the way their family or friends interact with them. They can say something like ”are you serious? you don’t need to do this, you are fine the way you are” or they can turn out to be even more critical. It becomes then harder and harder to stay focused on your purpose because the mind is challenged either way: inside, coping with the new and trying to get comfortable with it, and outside looking for answers and defences to contain the external pressure.
It is quite common therefore to stress out, especially when it comes to joining social events like lunches, dinners or cocktails with friends. Many report feeling guilty or enticed into skipping their daily workout and/or meditation or even eating foods they are trying to avoid, just to escape being challenged. Some behavioral and psychological observations reveal also that eating together with a friend leads to more food’s consumption compared to being alone or paired with a stranger, as it looks like friends give one another “permission” to indulge in overeating.
I am not saying that we should avoid our friends, family or any social interactions, but that we must find a different and constructive way to stand out big against any external criticism, pressure or temptation. So, in practical terms, how can we cope with that? By:
- not letting external opinions affect our determination and commitment to achieve the result we want,
- not stressing out about what others think about us,
- letting it all go, being aware that is our choice that matters
Managing emotions
It is well known that emotions affect our behaviors more than anything else. As the saying goes “80% is mindset, 20% is action”. This means that our state of mind will determine whether we will succeed in keeping up with our purposes or not. When the mind slips into a negative zone and the thoughts take you to an “I can’t zone” most likely you will end up manifesting what your predominant avenue of thinking says to you. Regardless of whether it is what you really want or if it is what really empowers you, or not.
In addition to its social implications, food has also a deep emotional meaning. Since we were born we have developed a kind of eating as fulfilment-gratification-distraction pattern so that, whenever something goes wrong, upsets us, bores us, or even when we feel terrifically happy, we use food as a security blanket to calm down, feel more fulfilled, distract a bit and give ourselves a gratification or reward.
Moreover, emotions and anxiety may affect the quality of our sleep, leading to an increase of cortisol level that slows down the ability of the body to run its chemical reactions at best. We may experience abdominal pain or bloating, and the body is induced to store fat, regardless of whether you are eating properly or exercising regularly. I promise you: I have been the living embodiment of this for so many years!
In order to manage your stress and emotions you can try some relaxation strategies or techniques such as deep diaphragmatic breathing, mindfulness, meditation, yoga or even self-hypnosis and decide which one works best for you. You will be able to read more about this topic in the Module 3 of the NEAT Programme on Meditation.
Do you relate to this? I’ll see you in the next post where we will be talking about how to set a plan to getting healthier.
Hope you enjoyed this reading. Feel free to share it with anybody who can take advantage of it and leave your own comments down below.
Help us spread Happiness & Health!
Lots of love, Roberta
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