How can I reduce stress about things I can't control?
You can reduce stress about things you can't control by accepting the fact that there are things in life you can't change. Psychologist Erin Olivo, PhD, explains how accepting things in life as they are can be helpful in relieving stress.
Transcript
So if we can step back even though we don't like it, and allow it to be, and say, it is what it is, and, I can get through this, that's
one way that we can actually take some of the edge off of the pain that we experience. [MUSIC PLAYING]
There are a ton of things in life that we just can't control, no matter how hard we try.
So I teach all of my patients a skill called acceptance or radical acceptance.
So it really means trying to allow yourself to let things be as they are, but to soothe yourself
and to be compassionate with yourself when you're really trying to sit there and say, it is what it is.
I'm gonna allow this to be. I'm not gonna try to change this or fight with it. Because a lot of the stress that we actually experience when
we don't like something or that we don't like the way something's going, it isn't necessarily all from the thing. It's often from this struggle that we experience
in wishing it were different or wanting it to be different or saying, why can't it be different? That struggle adds on a whole nother
level of emotion beyond the emotion that you're already feeling. So it's doubly hard to cope with.
So if we can step back even though we don't like it, and allow it to be, and say, it is what it is,
and, I can get through this, that's one way that we can actually take some of the edge off of the pain that we experience.
stress management
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