Welcome to the

Peak Revival Podcast.

My name is Vesta.

I'm gonna talk about

why stress is not the

enemy and how it makes us

stronger under pressure.

Now, are you someone who

avoids stress, who can't

wait to get through stress?

Or are you someone that

kind of dives straight

into challenges knowing

that it will create stress?

But you're okay with

that because you've

got somewhere to go.

You've got the drive,

you're on a mission, and

it doesn't matter, right?

So I see both, right?

I see women on a mission,

and then I also see women

who have, been so stressed

for such a long time that

it's led to burnout and.

Why I wanna talk about

this is because stress

gets a really bad name, and

in this podcast I really

wanna differentiate between

stress and challenges

because stress is more

of an emotional response.

And challenges are

what comes up that we

can't always control.

Or if we are moving in a

certain direction, like

we are wanting to do big

things in our business or in

the world, we are going to

come up against challenges.

And that's very normal.

But that can create,

feelings of tension

and stress within us.

but not all of it's bad.

Okay.

So in the early

part of discovering.

You know, going from burnout

to peak performance, I thought

the only way for people to

recover if they were burnt

out is to remove all the

stress from their life.

And so I went about, you

know, helping people to do

that through, helping them

with their relationships,

with their, you know,

work schedules and all

of that kind of stuff.

But really the results

were a bit lackluster.

Okay.

Because.

One, we are never

going to remove all the

challenges from our life,

and we don't need to.

Okay?

Because actually challenges

are part of this life.

And if you're in business,

it can feel like an

emotional rollercoaster.

And in business, or if you're

doing anything that's, you

know, creating something

new in the world, there's

going to be challenges,

and that's very normal.

But challenges help us

to stretch and grow.

You know, I was hearing a

doctor say the other day that

actually when we run and do,

any kind of heavy lifting or

any kind of workout, or even

if we break our bone, we're

getting a fracture, a stress

fracture, and I've had a

few, and actually it becomes,

you know, the bone becomes

even stronger at that point.

So it stimulates bone growth.

Okay.

And that same with exercise.

We know with muscle growth,

if you train so hard that you.

Trained to the point of

failure, like you can't

do another rep, right?

You actually, your

muscle fibers tear

and then they grow.

And so even in our body

on a physical level.

You know

that stress makes

us grow and thrive.

And then when you look at

life, like, think about

the moments in your life

where you had a significant

challenge to overcome, and

maybe it was an illness, or

maybe it was a divorce or a

bankruptcy, but some kind of

major turning point in your

life that was very stressful.

But actually from that place.

So much changed about you,

who you are as a person,

or the results that you've

had created in your life.

Like it brought about

a significant change in

your life due to a very

stressful, painful event.

so in that way.

Yeah, these challenges

really force us through,

you know, within our body

or from life coming at us

or within our business.

They force us to

stretch and grow.

And when you think about it,

that's why we set challenges.

That's why we set deadlines.

That's why we move, like

if you're on a mission

or you want to do things

differently or you wanna

become more successful,

like there's a driver there.

To push you because there's

going to be significant

growth and part of our

innate drive is to become the

best versions of ourselves.

You know, I talked about

it before Abraham Maslow

and the hierarchy of needs.

He said, we are always

striving to self-actualize

to become the best versions.

Who we are, who we can

be, because that gives

us meaning in our life.

Okay?

And so if you are going

to step forward into

self-actualization or

being the best that you

can be, you are going to

come up against challenges,

which can create stress.

But stress isn't all bad

because it's creating

so much growth for us.

But we need a recovery plan.

otherwise we are going

to just burn out, okay?

We're not going to be able

to cope with that level

of stress or challenge.

So Kelly McGonal, she

wrote a book called

The Upside of Stress.

In her research, she

found that stress, if you

deemed stress as not bad,

it didn't affect your

health in a negative way.

But if you saw stress

as harmful, then it

actually did have negative

health consequences.

And so She also found in

her research that when

we're stressed, our body

also releases a hormone

called oxytocin, which

is kind of, you know,

she calls it the cuddle

hormone or the love hormone

that also gets released.

That encourages us

to seek, support or

protection, and that also

boosts our resilience.

A part of Kelly's research

was, you know, this view on

how you see stress, right?

And so if you see it as bad,

it's gonna have a bad effect.

And if you don't see

it as bad, it doesn't

have a bad effect.

And this can look like, like I

remember, um, hearing a story,

I think it was an interview

with Bruce Springsteen, the

singer, and he said that, I

think someone asked him like

before, do you ever get stage

fright or do you, you know,

and he's like, no, but before

I go out on stage, I just

get so much energy in my body

that I'm virtually shaking

and I just know that I'm

ready to get out there and,

and do my best performance.

And the interviewer was like.

But that's anxiety, that's

stress, that's stage.

You know?

And he's like, oh no, I just

feel like I'm getting ready

for the best performance.

Right?

And so it was that

way of viewing it that

wasn't harmful to him.

'cause he saw it as his bo

body was prepping him to give

the best show of his life.

Right?

So it was a positive

thing for him.

It was helping him, it

was encouraging him rather

than, uh, being an obstacle.

And when you look at it, like

people who have, jitters or

exam jitters or get nervous

before an exam and they're

looking at footballers

who said before they get.

That pregame anxiety, they

didn't see it as anxiety.

They saw it as being amped

up for the best game.

But the pre, you know, the

exam jitters and the pregame

anxiety are exactly the

same psychological response.

It's just one is

viewed as helpful and

one is viewed as not.

And that is what Kelly

McGonagal was pointing to

was that if we saw those

scenarios, is actually our

body is just prepping us

to get into the game to

overcome these challenges.

'cause really the

stress response is

just about releasing.

So much energy in the body

that you can fight or flight,

do what you need to do, right?

So if we viewed it as

something that was supporting

us rather than hindering

us, then that would have a

completely different reaction

on our body, which is pretty

fascinating, which really

does make sense, right?

When you hear those

examples of the footballers

pre-game and the exam jitt.

I remember reading a book

about a guy called Josh Kin.

He was a really

high performer.

I think he was like a

chess savant or something

like that, but from a very

young age, he became a

world champion in chess.

Okay.

And then he decided to try his

hand at, I think it was pretty

sure it was martial arts.

And then later on, um,

I think in his twenties

he became the world

champion in martial arts.

So he became world

champion of two completely

different sports, which

is pretty amazing.

And they asked him, they

said, well, you must be

really gifted, you know?

And he said, no, I don't put

that down as being gifted.

He goes, I really, the way

that I became so successful

is I learn to balance.

Uh, and juggle or

balance between

stress + recovery

okay?

And so he really

saw that stress.

If you combine stress

and recovery, you

can master skills.

You can become a

champion, okay?

And when you look at it,

athletes, they put themselves

under extreme physical,

mental, emotional stress.

Yet they are champions.

Okay?

And they always have

a recovery plan.

They always look after

their body and their sleep

and things like that.

I remember reading about a

runner, and I can't remember

her name, but she, she

ended up becoming like a

bronze, uh, she won a bronze

medal in the Olympics, but.

She said what really changed

and made her a champion

was that she focused on her

self-care, sleep and nutrition

and she said she was sleeping.

I remember it being

something crazy like

14 or 16 hours a day.

Like she would have a long

sleep at night and then she

would sleep during the day.

And actually that was

her performance enhancer.

It wasn't that she was

running more or doing any

different training, she

actually just supported her

physical body more and she

became a champion from that.

And I think that

really points to.

If these, athletes and

people are using stress in

a way, but balancing it with

recovery to become champions,

then we can do that in

our everyday life as well.

So, as I said, mostly I see

people who have suffered

the long-term effects of

stress and it starts to

impact their performance,

their mental health, their

metabolism, their energy.

And there is a lot that you

can do to, you know, stop

stress or challenges in

your life, and particularly

if you have a lot.

That you carried.

If there's a lot of decisions

that you have to make, um,

and there's a lot of people

that you have to look after,

then there's a lot that you

can do to support yourself

through a recovery plan to

make sure that you are still

maintaining peak performance.

Okay?

So you're not dropping

down into burnout.

the way that I look at a

recovery planet has to have

nutrition, good nutrition

in there, and good nutrition

doesn't look like, you know,

doing fad diets or, you

know, cutting out major food

groups from your diet or

anything like that, right?

So normally when I see women,

when they're exhausted and

stressed, we need to have

a very balanced approach

to the macros in order to

get the right nutrients in

the, to do the repair work.

So looking at nutrition,

whole foods, cutting out

processed foods and sugars

and things like that.

They are just gonna create

more stress on the body.

They are just gonna

push you further down.

Secondly, sleep.

As I mentioned, the runner,

she, all she did was increase

her sleep and improve her

nutrition, and she became a

champion just through those.

Okay, so sleep is so

important for recovery.

So even if you're going

through a really busy time

or a challenging time and you

can feel yourself becoming,

you know, run down, then

that would be the time to

go to bed even earlier.

Okay.

8:39 PM It sounds crazy, but

if you can, I know it feels

like that is way too early and

you're missing out on life,

but those are the moments

that are going to help make

your recovery a lot faster.

And the third thing you wanna

look at is creating mental

space or mental clarity.

So stop overthinking things.

Stop over,

catastrophizing, pause.

The mental noise,

the mental chatter.

You know, don't overthink

every scenario because

the busier our nineties.

The more stressed our body

is, the more we're in a

state of stress, the more

we activate the fight or

flight re response, right?

So we're activating it through

our thinking and so the best

that you can let go, a lot

of the stuff that you carry

around that you can't seem

to let go at the moment, do

the best that you can to let

that go because it will help

to relax the body and start

to allow the body to recover.

sometimes what's really

good is to get yourself

out of your environment.

So if you are someone who is

working all day, cognitively,

so if you're on the computer

and you've got high stake

decisions to make, or you're

just using your brain all

day, which is most people

today, then you wanna look at.

Doing something that takes

you completely away from that,

like going out into nature,

going for a walk, like taking

the weekend and going for a

really long walk or a hike.

And that gets you away

from all the devices.

'cause that actually helps

to, to reset the mind then,

okay, so you sitting down

and watching Netflix is

not going to reset your

mind because you're still

using your mind, right?

I hope that makes sense.

So you wanna make sure

that your, your rest

matches your stress.

So if you're on the computer

all day, you wanna be away

from all devices 'cause that's

not gonna help you recover.

But sometimes just taking

yourself out of your

environment, breaking

your routine, can help to

really reset the system.

So I'd love to hear

your comments below.

If you see the comment box on.

You know what is helpful

for you to see that

stress is not the enemy,

that actually we can use

stress to help us to grow.

And every opportunity or every

challenge that we have is

just another learning curve.

It's another learning curve.

Right?

And as frustrating as it

is, and I know after a point

where I have so many things go

wrong, it's like, come on now.

But actually when you come

through the other end, you

realize how much you've

learned, but at the same time,

you want to make sure that you

have a recovery plan, that you

are taking care of yourself

so you don't burn out.

Let me know your

comments below.