How Reframing Your Thoughts Can Help Reduce Stress and Anxiety

Why Stress Feels So Overwhelming

The feelings that come with stress are not nice. But guess what! There are things we can do to help ourselves ease feelings of stress.

The driving force behind stress is our thoughts, and our reactions. It is our thoughts, and our reactions to events and to news that give rise to stress.

Our perception of what is happening, versus what is actually and objectively going on are quite often not the same thing.

How we perceive a situation to be, is well, how that situation is.

“By changing our perspective on a situation, we take the pressure off ourselves.”

Reframing Stressful Situations

An example of this given by Tony Robbins is the situation of hiring employees. This can pose a stressful situation, or it can be a freeing situation.

The stress perspective of being a hirer may be:

“I won’t be able to attract the right employee”, or “having to go through the hiring process is so time-consuming, and so expensive, and it may all come to nothing”.

OR –

How about this perspective? How about these thoughts:

“By hiring people, I will have more free time”.

“By hiring people, I will be able to delegate some of my tasks”.

“By hiring people, I will be able to complete a project sooner.”

“By hiring people, the company will get fresh perspectives which will lead into a new cycle of growth”.

By changing our perspective on a situation, we take the pressure off ourselves.

Changing Your Perspective During Stressful Moments

I invite you to try an exercise where you reframe your thoughts in relation to something that is causing you to feel stressed.

Perhaps you’re struggling to get to sleep at night, lying there awake waiting to dose off. Instead of thinking just before bed:

“Oh gosh, here we go, another sleepless night”.

If you think that, it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Instead, flip that around, and think:

“I am going to head up to bed 30 minutes earlier than usual, and I am going to take that opportunity properly to switch off so that I can set myself up for a restful, rejuvenating night’s sleep”.

How to Reframe Stress Around Deadlines and Pressure

Is a looming deadline causing you to feel stressed?

View it as an important event, but an event that will soon be over and pass.

Try thinking about the freedom you will have once the project is complete. Think about the sense of accomplishment you will feel once the deadline is met.

Maybe even plan something nice to do for yourself as a reward after the project is finished – a delicious meal out with a good friend for example, or a slow, relaxed day at the spa.

Focusing on What You Can Control During Uncertain Times

Or, are you going through a period of uncertainty in your life, and all of that is causing you to feel stressed?

It’s so easy to focus our thoughts on this kind of situation – trust me I have been there.

Being jobless and homeless, and relying on the grace and kindness of friends after being displaced by the effects of Hurricane Irma caused a lot of stress in my life due to all the uncertainty that accompanied that unenviable situation.

What helped me the most was to keep my focus and thoughts fixed on the aspects of my life that I could control, and to do this to the best of my abilities.

For example, I could control:

• what I ate

• what news and other information I consumed

• the jobs that I chose to apply for

• my exercise routine

Final Thoughts on Reframing Stress

Feeling stressed is deeply unpleasant.

One of the ways in which we can help ourselves to get through stressful situations is to change the way we think as regards that situation.

By reframing our thoughts around the stressful event, we give ourselves the opportunity to diffuse some of those feelings of anxiety and overwhelm that often accompany stress.

If stress, overwhelm or anxiety are impacting your confidence, wellbeing or ability to move forward in life, support is available. Sometimes even small mindset shifts and practical tools can create meaningful change over time.