2 Questions to Ask Yourself the Next Time You're Stressed

You have a job interview coming up. Or perhaps a presentation you’ve been preparing for. Maybe you need to have a difficult conversation with someone. Whatever it is, you’re terribly stressed about it.

In the emotional chaos in your mind, you can barely focus on what you need to do in order to prepare. In your better moments you wonder how you'll cope with potential disaster. In your not-so-good moments, you want to cancel, call in sick, or put it off indefinitely.

Avoidance is the perfect strategy in moments when we face threats to our survival. The faster and further we run away, the greater the chances we won’t be eaten alive. But when the threat is more imaginary than real—a heightened fear of failure and its devastating aftermath—we need to question our perceptions and interpretations. Otherwise, we’ll continue to run away from the very experiences that lead to our growth and resilience.