Book Surgeon No. 21

I had a psychology professor who believes that “stress is the number one killer,” a precursor to countless diseases and health issues. Naturally, the class was one of the least stressful classes I have ever taken, but it was also one of the most insightful. I learned how, for many of us, we have much more control over our mindsets and emotions than we give ourselves credit for. The way we experience our life and the world around us is highly dependent on how we interpret the series of events that play out around us. Often, it is as simple as changing one word: I have to walk my dog vs. I get to walk my dog. Our interpretation of our lives is simply the story we tell ourselves about the things that happen to us, and it is our responsibility to determine if the story will be positive or negative. With this perspective, we can learn to better confront the daily stressors that impact our health and well-being, which is also the key idea behind The Art of Taking It Easy: How to Cope with Bears, Traffic, and the Rest of Life’s Stressors by psychologist and stand-up comedian Dr. Brian King. 

First, let me say that reading books by a comedian is almost always a good time. So if you are a comedian, consider writing a book. In The Art of Taking It Easy, Dr. King starts with a simple definition of stress: “our brain’s reaction to a perception of threat.” A key word in this definition is perception. Our brain cannot tell the difference between a stimulus that is a real threat and a stimulus that is simply perceived as a threat, so it reacts the same in both cases. An example of a perceived threat is traffic. There is almost nothing about the action of driving your car at a slower pace than typical that puts your life in any additional danger. A real threat would be confronting a bear, which definitely can put our well-being in danger. In both situations, we tend to get stressed, which can elevate our heart rate and motivate us to take action. In traffic, this is not so good. There is not much we can do about the traffic so all it does is get us worked up and angry with nowhere to express that anger other than flipping off fellow drivers or lashing out at others. When facing a bear, however, the same stress response is good because it allows us to take the necessary action to increase our odds of survival. Thus, Dr. King suggests that the first thing we should do when we feel agitated or stressed is to ask ourselves, “is this situation actually threatening?” Realizing that not all stressful scenarios pose a serious threat to our safety or well-being will help us calm down and return to a more neutral emotional state. And if the situation does pose a serious threat, we should ask, “is there anything I can do to change the situation?” If so, take action. If not, realizing we cannot do anything to change our situation helps us realize our stress response is useless at the moment, which can also help calm us down. 

Nonetheless, even if we ask ourselves these questions, we will still feel stress. For many of us, our lives are built around stress, whether at home or in the workplace or both, and it will not go away completely or instantaneously. Yet, in order to improve our resilience to stress, Dr. King outlines three practical strategies: practice optimism, practice gratitude, and practice humor. To practice optimism, he offers a journaling prompt for us to partake in: “I want you to imagine the future, only this time imagine that everything has worked out for you exactly as you want it. What does that look like? Be as descriptive as possible. Now write that down in a journal and repeat this exercise again next week, focusing on a different aspect of your life (such as career or relationship).” Just by imagining a positive future, we can enhance our optimism, and in turn, our resilience to life’s stressors. Furthermore, practicing gratitude can be just as beneficial and can take many forms, whether it be journaling every day about a couple positive experiences or telling your loved ones that you love them. These simple actions will humble us and broaden our perspective on life, which diminishes the influence of stress on our mind. The third recommended approach to managing stress is humor. As Dr. King writes, the “physical act of laughing reduces stress and stress-related physiological conditions.” Take this as a reason to watch more comedy and seek more humor in your life. Surround yourself with people that make you smile and laugh as humor is incredibly powerful at quieting negative thinking and stress. Ultimately, practicing these three strategies all have almost zero cost. So give them a shot. Keep an eye out for ways to practice optimism, to express gratitude, and to laugh more. At the very least, you will share a few more laughs than before. Who would not want that in their life?

Share with others if you enjoy! Thanks for reading and see you next week!