Everyone goes through stress at some point in their life, but there are ways to reframe that and use it as a superpower to get you through challenges. Stress can be a major factor in your entrepreneurial journey, but whether it’s a negative factor that drags your business down or a more positive factor that propels you to succeed is in part controlled by the way you interact with your stress.
You can reframe your stress and use it to fuel your business– you can take your time back from thinking about and dealing with stress! One way you can do this is with the R.I.S.E. method developed by brain health expert Trudy Stone. Trudy is also a Certified Culinary Nutritionist, and the R.I.S.E. method takes the gut-brain connection in hand to help you overcome stress and burnout by nourishing your mind and body.
R.I.S.E.
The stress-busting technique we’re talking about today is a four-part approach to thinking about stress and its causes. Ruminating, Inflammation, Stress-busting nutrients, and Emphasis on gut health are the four components to dealing with stress and turning it into your superpower.
Ruminating
Do you tend to dwell on situations you find upsetting or frustrating? Do you replay problems over and over again in your mind? If so, that’s ruminating, and you need to disrupt it! Ruminating trains your emotional brain to become more powerful and makes it more likely in the future that you’ll waste time ruminating on negative thoughts.
Dealing With Negative Thoughts
If you have negative thoughts, catch them and acknowledge them. Recognize that you’re having these thoughts, and then cancel them out by reframing them. And then forgive yourself, because it’s totally ok to have negative thoughts! Don’t ruminate or get stuck in the negativity, but instead realize that the existence of the thought itself is neutral. What you do with it is where it either harms or helps.
Inflammation
Did you know that stress can make you physically feel bad? It’s true! Stress is the cause of all inflammatory responses in our bodies. Whether this is short-term inflammation from the stress of injury or longer-term inflammation from chronic responses, stress is at the root of it all. Chronic inflammation is a confused, damaging immune response that can be caused by long-term stress. The less stress you have, the less chronic inflammation in your body.
Stress-busting Nutrients
What we put on our plates has a huge impact on our minds and bodies. These days, we tend to treat mental health concerns with prescription drugs before we consider what we’re putting on our plate. But we know that food has a huge impact on our mental health. The Mediterranean diet has been shown to have improved outcomes for depression.
Additionally, stress depletes nutrients that your body needs to function. B vitamins are one of the first to get burned out by stress, and Vitamin B6 in particular is important for manufacturing the neurotransmitters your brain needs to function. You can improve your B vitamins by eating sweet potatoes, bananas, garlic, cauliflower, and cashews.
Emphasis on Gut Health
The last part of R.I.S.E. might be the most important. Your gut is considered to be your second brain, and when you nourish your gut, you nourish the brain. The brain and gut send messages to each other via neurotransmitters, which are actually produced in the gut. You need to make sure that you have healthy gut bacteria, and that means that you need to avoid things that can be harmful to your microbiome. Don’t take antibiotics when you don’t need them, avoid too many processed foods that contain emulsifiers (they hurt the gut bacteria), and nourish the microbiome with probiotics and prebiotics.
The Importance of Routine
As entrepreneurs, we don’t always live a routine life– we’re often on the go, and many of us feel like we have to constantly be hustling for our businesses. But that can actually lead to additional stress and negative business outcomes! Instead, we should be taking part in self-care routines so that our minds and bodies are cared for. Spending a little time on a self-care routine can help you develop healthier habits and check in with your emotions. These can be things like meditation, reading, or exercising in the morning or before bed… as well as prioritizing rest.
When you make it part of your daily routine to prioritize rest, you’re telling your body and brain that relaxation is a priority and that whatever is stressing you out will just have to wait until you’ve taken care of yourself. This will train your mind to seek solutions instead of ruminating on your stress.
If you want to reduce your entrepreneurial stress and seek solutions, our Rainmaker Family might be just the place for you. We can teach you the skills you need to improve your finances, make money, and grow your wealth in a supportive, low-stress environment. Sign up with us today to get started!
