The Roots of Stress: How Do You Dig In So You Can Stop Stressing Out

Stress.

It seems all of us are under it, overwhelmed with it, or just plain in it.  It's one of the most common words we use nowadays.

I'm old enough to remember when the word stress started making its way into our everyday vocabulary.  I believe part of this is due to our society as a whole getting more comfortable with acknowledging weakness and the need for help—a necessary step towards being more honest with ourselves and others.

It has been a significant shift in our collective consciousness; however, I believe we are now ready to take it to the next level.  Most people try to manage stress at the surface.  But what if the real answer lies in understanding where it actually starts—before you even notice it?

"Stress" is often a complex mixture of our thoughts, beliefs, and emotions concerning a situation or event, and the (semi/subconscious) connection to our back story.

Even when we are dealing with a stressor involving our physical self, it's how we deal with the rest of that mix that determines how we handle it.

Or don't.

Think about a physical goal that involves weight lifting or physical training.  Any pain or discomfort you experience along the way is bearable because of how you feel about achieving the result.  Adjusting our mindset on any physical ailment or pain to focus on the reward can drastically reduce our stress load, even when the ailment sticks around for a while, or involves something we wish to avoid at all costs.

The power to move forward with more peace and clarity lies in mastering your mindset, emotions, and perspective.

Mastery of mindset, emotion, and perspective benefits every aspect of your life.

Whether it's physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, social, home, work, with people, by ourselves, on a bus, or in a restaurant, similar to green eggs and ham, these adjustments go absolutely anywhere!  (Sorry, the cadence was just too much for me to resist.)

Regardless of the details, stress occurs when we don't take the time to honestly and thoroughly process a situation.

As a Certified Emotional Health and High-Performance coach, I see the following list as being the most common origins of stress.  Some of them will even work together as a team to really get you wound up and spinning.

Perhaps you’ve tried meditation, journaling, maybe even a few stress hacks—but the tension always creeps back in.  Let’s talk about why that happens… and what’s really underneath your stress.

The Roots of Stress

• Constraints (time, ability, resource)
• Control (feeling controlled, trying to control)
• Loss (of a dream, relationship, self-care, health, job, divorce, death, need for transition)
• Using energy to avoid looking at the issue (distraction, denial, justifying, addiction)
• Unresolved situation (limbo or pattern repeat)
• Unprocessed thoughts
• Unprocessed emotions
• A belief that is unrecognized, unacknowledged, and/or unexamined
• Physical imbalances (nutrition, hormones, toxic load, injuries/accidents, illness)
• Not making a decision

Notice that "people" are not on the list.

Of course, any interaction has the potential to add stress to our lives; however, people are not the root of our stress.  How we interpret the interaction is our real ground zero.  It's astounding how, once we address and then learn to coach ourselves through a collaborative conversation, thriving during stressful events is totally possible.

Some of these sources (time, resource, ability) can look unchangeable to us, but by asking ourselves what we believe, we can shift our perspective even on these aspects that wear us down and stress us out.

RELATED READING:

The #1 Myth You Must Abandon to Create Peace and Fulfillment in Your Life

What Keeps You Stuck? The Answer May Surprise You

Want More?

Imagine being able to release stress without forcing calm or faking positivity—just real, lasting ease because you understand what’s driving it.

That’s exactly what we’re uncovering in the Roots of Stress Roadmap Audio Guide.  Empower yourself with more tools as you take what you've learned from the blog post to the next level.  Snag it below!