The boss is on your case, kids are busy with school, there are bills to pay, mom is sick and you’ve got stress!
Never before have we lived in a world where we are inundated with non-stop stress from all corners of our lives. It’s nearly impossible to escape; it’s the number one contributor to illness, days off work and could be considered the plague of the twentieth century. We’re told we need to “manage” it, reduce it and even avoid it. But is stress really the problem? Or is it our relationship to stress that is the real culprit?
Despite conventional wisdom that says stress is bad for us, at its most basic level, stress is neutral. A stress is simply any stimulus that requires your body to respond or adapt: exercise, eating, heat, noise, poison, and sleep, essentially anything can be considered a stress.
The classification as good or bad is dependent on how well your body handles it. Exercise can be a wonderful thing if the body can recover and rebuild, but it can also lead to debilitation or, even worse, death. Food can turn on health or it can severely compromise function. The same experience can be a “eustress” or a “distress”; it depends on you.
Today we are succumbing to stress at an accelerated rate, not just because we have more of it, but also because we can handle so much less. We have weakened our bodies by living in ways that oppose our innate design: poor food, minimal movement, chronic sitting, less sleep, and all the effects of these in combination accumulating over time.
This understanding is empowering and makes living well in a stressful world much more achievable. Instead of hiding from life, we need to enhance the body’s ability to adapt to life. For centuries it was our only option…adapt or die.
Stop focusing on what’s wrong and start focusing on what’s strong. The solution, as always, is Living By Design.
Dr. Michael Gibson has committed himself to helping others to live the best life possible. After graduating with a Bachelor of Kinesiology from the University of Western Ontario, he received his Doctor of Chiropractic Degree and Masters of Science in Chiropractic Sports Science from Life University. He is the co-creator of Life By Design, owner of The Wellness Group, and co-owner of CrossFit 613. His passion for empowering families runs deep. After experiencing the loss of his sister due to illness, Michael’s purpose became reaching and teaching as many as possible the foundational principles of an extraordinary life. Since that time he has passionately pursued and been successful in living out his dream. He maintains a busy family chiropractic practice, a full speaking schedule and finds time to implement the principles and practices of Life By Design in his own life.
