Stress and pressure are your friends

There’s something about stress that can either turn us into the winners we all were born to be or it can make us give up and accept whatever life gives us. In the end, I feel that pressure is our friend if we allow it to be.
Personally speaking, stress has brought some of my greatest victories in life. When I say “victories” I really mean learning more about myself. It’s an amazing feeling to prove yourself wrong of what you thought you were limited to. People have made their greatest discoveries of who they are because of stress and pressure to succeed, to be different, to prove someone wrong and many other reasons. Of course, it’s possible to do the same thing when everything is great and you have everything you need but not as likely. It’s something about the survival instinct that stress can bring upon us that creates the perfect storm for us to grow and step outside our comfort zone.
Life is like Six Flags
There was a time when I hated roller coasters. As a grown man I had a legit fear of getting on them. The only thing that made me do it was when I wanted to impress this girl (who is now my wife) that I was dating. She’s the exact opposite of me. She’s the adrenaline junkie in the relationship. The pressure of looking like a chump in front of her made me finally accept her invitation and go to Six Flags. I remember the ride to the park was the most nerve wrecking 35 minutes ever. Trying to stay calm on the outside while you’re freaking out on the inside does some funny things to your body but there was no turning back. I had no choice but to fight the nervousness and keep going forward. Sometimes our greatest enemy is our mind and imagination. As humans, we have imagined and created some amazing things. That means we also have the power to imagine and create some very bad things. Unfortunately, I had plenty thoughts of doubt in my head the entire time.
What if I got too scared in front of her to even get in the line at one of the rides? What would she think of me? What if I got sick on a ride and really embarrassed myself? Would she lose respect for me? What if I actually did complete a ride but looked visibly shaken?
These questions created an intense pressure but the fear of backing down and giving up without even trying in front of this beautiful girl was a lot stronger than all the fears combined about riding roller coasters. So I started slow and we got on an old wooden roller coaster called the Georgia Cyclone which was absolutely a bad idea. That was the most uncomfortable ride I’ve ever been on. I felt like my head was going to pop off midway during the ride. I wanted to give up the whole idea after that one but I knew that wasn’t the victory I needed. If I started this challenge then I might as well finish it. In order to get the victory, I had to get on something that intimidated me more. Something with twists, flips and high speed. Next up was the Georgia Scorcher. A steel, high-speed coaster that starts you off literally dropping you into an upside down loop. I remember being on it and feeling a sense of excitement mixed with some nervousness at the same time. I didn’t realize I was in the middle of the process of change.
This time when I got off the ride a funny thing happened. I realized that I actually liked it. I liked it enough that we got back in line and rode again, and again, and again. By the end of the day, I went from being terrified of heights and flips to riding every coaster in the park including the mammoth Goliath. Now my wife and I look forward to going to parks together and we have a blast every single time.
If a few years ago someone would have told me I would be this way today, there is no way I would have believed them. I say all of this to say that when we feel pressure and attempt something new to get through that pressure, sometimes the beginning doesn’t go so well. There will be excitement and fear during the process. There are times when we feel everything will go well. Then there will be times where we stumble and regret trying.We may even doubt we have what it takes but if we keep pushing there’s a good chance we uncover something inside of us that we never knew we had. Something that opens our lives up to something better and more fulfilling.
You don’t really know what’s ingrained within you until you’re put under pressure.
Stress is normal
We feel pressure when we feel a situation or task is too large for us. We feel don’t have the answers, we don’t feel good enough and we feel the time is ticking fast and we have to resolve the issue quickly. Without these feelings, there is no growth within us. The growth happens because stress forces us to think creatively and in a different way than before. Think about the times you didn’t have what you needed to do something or pay for something that was necessary. What did you do? You either chose to give up and accept the situation or something happened where you got an idea to sell something on the side, get a part-time job, learn a new career or just straight up humble yourself and ask for help. All of these things show us another side of ourselves that we don’t see day to day. These situations have a way of peeling back the onion of our personality and genes to expose something deep inside of us that we wouldn’t see without stress and pressure. Let’s embrace it.
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Also, you can find me @themacgregory on Instagram
