Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:11] Speaker B: What'S worthwhile healing Mind, body, and spirit. I'm Ramsey Zimmerman. I choose peace of mind, vitality of body, and joy of spirit over stress, exhaustion, or overwhelm. Together, let's explore and pursue the many ways to build holistic health and wellness.
[00:00:31] Speaker A: Hey there. It's Ramsay here.
[00:00:32] Speaker B: I've got a lot going on these days.
[00:00:34] Speaker A: Lots of things I'm doing, lots of things I should be doing. It's starting to stress me out a little bit, you know what I mean? So, of course, I'm looking to my list of stress relief activities.
But is that really the answer?
Biologically speaking, the stress response is how the body prepares for a difficult situation.
We call it fight or flight. Adrenaline kicks in. Heart rate climbs. Muscles tense. Breath shortens. Blood rushes out of the gut and into the limbs.
Vision sharpens, attention narrows. The body says, let's go.
But here's the thing. In our modern world, stressful situations are not discreet, simple life or death moments. We hardly ever fight in the sense of duking it out. And we don't exactly run away either. Our stressors now come packaged in emails, meetings, overdue bills, awkward conversations, or internal fears. So what happens to all that unresolved energy? Maybe we stew, overthink. We analyze and ruminate. Others shove it down, deeper the better. We try to ignore it. We scroll, we drink. We self medicate, we zone out, lash out, or opt out. We find temporary relief in nice things like breathwork, a jog, a game, a nap, or a meme. But those things don't really solve the stress. Not if the thing that caused it is still out there, pacing the hallway, rattling the door, waiting. You cannot cure stress by avoiding the stressful thing. You can treat symptoms. You can soothe your body. But if the source remains unaddressed, the stress will return. Maybe weaker, maybe stronger, but it'll return. I know this isn't exactly new or novel, and yet I still try to escape my stress all the time. I'm like the king of avoidance. I've even been avoiding admitting that fact in this podcast. Maybe you don't have that problem. Well, lucky you. But if you do, then you know what I'm saying. This episode is for both of us. Now listen, I'm not knocking stress relief. I'm a fan of movement, deep breathing, quiet stretches, long walks. I believe in the benefits of tea and meditation and talking it out with someone wise.
All of these help, but they are not solutions. They are support systems. The solution is to face what is hard. That sounds simple, but you and I both know it isn't. The hard thing is likely not a saber tooth tiger. It might be a phone call. It might be telling the truth, asking for help, taking responsibility, maybe admitting something you wish were not true. And yeah, that still feels like a fight or like a sprint away from danger, but actually, maybe it's neither. It could be more like a step into the light. Sometimes the only way out is through.
Now, I'm not saying you need to go full on into every conflict. It helps to strategize. I try to build a momentum, do something pretty easy, then something a little harder. Then that thing, the thing I've been dodging. It is amazing how often the dread of it is worse than the thing itself. I tell myself that all the time, but it's. It still seems dreadful. Sometimes I tell a friend, hey, I've got to make this call today, giving them implicit permission to ask me about it later. Sometimes it helps knowing that somebody else knows about it somehow. Maybe I'll be more ashamed of admitting that I continued to avoid that thing, that I am scared of doing it. Okay, that sounded better in my head than out loud. Or I'll ask myself, what's the worst that can happen? This almost never works because my mind can always fill in some traumatic possibilities.
Okay, different question. What's the most likely thing that will happen? That is far safer. More than likely, we will stumble through the hard thing, and it might go poorly. You might get rejected, you might get embarrassed, you might feel like you failed. But chances are, the worst case scenario is unlikely. And even if it does happen, you'll probably recover faster than you think. You'll adapt. You'll get stronger. That's part of the gift stress offers us.
It is not just a warning light. It's a training opportunity. You are building capacity not just to handle this, but to handle what comes next. Because here's another truth. Stress is not really a villain. It is your body trying to serve you. It says, wake up, get strong, pay attention. Something matters here. So go ahead and breathe. Move your body. Pet your dog, drink some water. But also, what's stressing you out? Is there something you're avoiding? Is it time to stop dodging? Or could this be your moment to run into the hill? I could keep going, but I've got some phone calls to make. Maybe ask me sometime how they went.
And for today, that is enough.
[00:05:15] Speaker B: Where to go from here? Visit whatsworthwhile.net to learn more about me, Ramsey Zimmerman. And please reach out to me and let me know what you think. I don't want this podcast to be some message in a bottle thrown out to sea. I want to hear back from you. Please send me a message or an email or hit me up on x Rams, LinkedIn or Instagram. And please leave a rating and review for the what's Worthwhile podcast on Apple, Spotify, Iheart or Amazon. Thanks.
