日课｜美文：Lower Your Tolerance to Stress

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Lower Your Tolerance to Stress

It seems that we have it backward in our society. We tend to look up to people who are under a great deal of stress, who can handle loads of stress, and those who are under a great deal of pressure. When someone says, "I've been working really hard," or "I'm really stressed out," we are taught to admire, even emulate their behavior. In my work as a stress consultant I hear the proud words "I have a very high tolerance to stress" almost every day. It probably won't come as a surprise that when these stressed-out people first arrive at my office, more often than not, what they are hoping for are strategies to raise their tolerance to stress even higher so they can handle even more!

Fortunately, there is an inviolable law in our emotional environment that goes something like this: Our current level of stress will be exactly that of our tolerance to stress. You'll notice that the people who say, "I can handle lots of stress" will always be under a great deal of it! So, if you teach people to raise their tolerance to stress, that's exactly what will happen. They will accept even more confusion and responsibility until again, their external level of stress matches that of their tolerance. Usually it takes a crisis of some kind to wake up a stressed-out person to their own craziness - a spouse leaves, a health issue emerges, a serious addiction takes over their life something happens that jolts them into a search for a new kind of strategy.

It may seem strange, but if you were to enroll in the average stress management workshop, what you would probably learn is to raise your tolerance to stress. It seems that even stress consultants are stressed out!

What you want to start doing is noticing your stress early, before it gets out of hand. When you feel your mind moving too quickly, it's time to back off and regain your bearings. When your schedule is getting out of hand, it's a signal that it's time to slow down and reevaluate what's important rather than power through everything on the list. When you're feeling out of control and resentful of all you have to do, rather than roll up your sleeves and "get to it," a better strategy is to relax, take a few deep breaths, and go for a short walk. You'll find that when you catch yourself getting too stressed out - early, before it gets out of control - your stress will be like the proverbial snowball rolling down the hill. When it's small, it's manageable and easy to control. Once it gathers momentum, however, it's difficult, if not impossible, to stop.

There's no need to worry that you won't get it all done.

When your mind is clear and peaceful and your stress level is reduced, you'll be more effective and you'll have more fun. As you lower your tolerance to stress, you will find that you'll have far less stress to handle, as well as creative ideas for handling the stress that is left over.

降低你对压力的承受能力

在我们的社会里，它似乎落后了。我们倾向于尊敬那些承受巨大压力、能够承受压力的人，以及那些承受巨大压力的人。当有人说，“我工作很努力”或“我压力很大”，我们就会被教导去欣赏，甚至模仿他们的行为。在我作为压力顾问的工作中，我几乎每天都能听到“我对压力有很高的承受力”这句骄傲的话。当这些有压力的人第一次来到我的办公室时，他们希望的是提高他们对压力的承受能力的策略，这样他们就可以应付更多的压力了！

幸运的是，在我们的情感环境中有一条不可侵犯的定律，它是这样的：我们当前的压力水平将正好是我们对压力的容忍度。你会注意到，那些说“我能承受很多压力”的人总是承受着巨大的压力！所以，如果你教人们提高对压力的承受能力，那就是会发生的事情。他们会接受更多的困惑和责任，直到他们的外部压力水平与他们的容忍度相匹配。通常情况下，一个压力很大的人需要一个危机来唤醒他们自己的疯狂——配偶离开，健康问题出现，严重的上瘾占据了他们的生活——一些事情发生后，他们开始寻找一种新的策略。

这可能看起来很奇怪，但如果你参加一个普通的压力管理研讨会，你可能会学到的是提高你对压力的容忍度。似乎连压力顾问都压力很大！

你要做的是在压力失控之前，尽早注意到你的压力。当你觉得你的思维太快，是时候退后，重新开始你的方向。当你的日程安排失控时，这是一个信号，表明是时候放慢脚步，重新评估什么是重要的，而不是把清单上的所有事情都处理掉。当你感觉失去控制，对你必须做的一切感到愤恨时，与其卷起袖子“开始”，一个更好的策略是放松，深呼吸几下，然后散散步。你会发现，当你发现自己压力过大时——在压力失控之前——你的压力会像众所周知的滚下山的雪球一样。当它很小的时候，它是易于管理和易于控制的。然而，一旦它积聚了动力，即使不是不可能，也很难停止。

没必要担心你不能完成所有的事情。

当你的头脑清醒、平和，你的压力水平降低，你会更有效，你会有更多的乐趣。当你降低对压力的容忍度时，你会发现你要处理的压力要少得多，同时也会有创造性的想法来处理剩下的压力。

【注释】

1. lower 把…放低；使…降下

2. tolerance 忍受；容忍；宽容；宽恕

3. loads of 大量；许多

4. stressed out 极度焦虑不安的;心力交瘁的

5. emulate 努力赶上；同…竞争

6. consultant 顾问

7. inviolable 不容亵渎的；不可侵犯的；不容破坏的

8. confusion 不确定；困惑

9. crisis 危机；危急关头

10. emerge （从隐蔽处或暗处）出现，浮现，露出

11. jolt （使）震动，摇动，颠簸

12. enroll 吸收（成员），加入

13. regain 重新获得，恢复(能力或品质等)

14. reevaluate 重新考虑;再评价;再评估

15. resentful 感到气愤的；憎恨的；愤慨的

16. roll up your sleeves 撸起袖子准备大干一场;卷起袖子

17. proverbial 谚语的；如谚语所说的

18. momentum 推进力；动力；(物理学中的)动量，冲量

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