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Breast Cancer Reimagined
The story you tell yourself about your breast cancer journey shapes your entire experience. Whether you’ve recently been diagnosed or are in the midst of treatment, Breast Cancer Reimagined is your podcast for writing this new chapter of your life.
Breast Cancer Reimagined
Reimagining Stress
Understanding how stress impacts your breast cancer journey is vital for navigating challenges effectively. This episode discusses the nature of stress, shares personal insights, and provides practical tools for transforming your mindset from viewing stress as harmful to seeing it as a powerful ally.
• Exploring the definition and origins of stress
• The difference between real threats and perceived threats
• The impact of mindset on stress responses
• Research insights on perception shifts regarding stress
• Introduction to three practical tools for managing stress
• Tool One: The Stress Reset process
• Tool Two: Stress Less, Connect More and reaching out for support
• Tool Three: Highlighting strengths in stressful situations
• Emphasis on the ongoing process of shifting stress perspectives
• Encouragement to embrace and celebrate small victories
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List of 24 Character Strengths
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The story you tell yourself about your breast cancer journey shapes your entire experience, whether you've been recently diagnosed or are in the midst of treatment. Breast Cancer Reimagined is your podcast for writing this new chapter of your life. Hi, I'm Shannon, your host, and I'm so glad you're here. As a proud two-time breast cancer survivor, I'm on a mission to help women like you reimagine how you navigate your breast cancer journey by helping you shift your mindset, activate your strengths and uncover deeper meaning in your journey. I'm creating future episodes to address your unique challenges, but I need your input. What are your biggest questions or struggles when it comes to your journey? Share them with me by completing the Google form that's linked in the show notes. Your voice matters and together we can create something truly powerful. I can't wait to hear from you. Create something truly powerful. I can't wait to hear from you. Hello, hello. Welcome back to Breast Cancer Reimagined. Hi, I'm Shannon, your host, a proud two-time breast cancer survivor. I am so glad you're here. Welcome to episode 8.
Speaker 1:Have you ever noticed how two people can go through the exact same experience but react completely differently? One person stays more calm and focused, while the other feels completely overwhelmed. Why does that happen? We'll answer this question in this episode, reimagining Stress, how Changing your Mindset Changes Everything. We'll also explore three practical tools to make stress work for you, not against you.
Speaker 1:Let's start at the beginning. What is stress? Well, at its core, stress is your body's natural response to a challenge. It's not good or bad, it just is. So think of it as your built-in alarm system, designed to help you respond to a perceived threat. But what exactly is a perceived threat? Let me give you an example. You're waiting for scan results and your mind starts racing with worst case scenarios. Your heart pounds, your stomach tightens, your body reacts as if something terrible is already happening, even though you don't actually know the outcome yet. Now let's contrast that to a real threat. So a real threat is when your doctor tells you that immediate treatment is necessary to stop the cancer from spreading. So you take action, you start scheduling appointments, starting treatment because your health is at risk. But here's the thing your brain doesn't always know the difference between real threats and perceived threats, and this is where your mindset becomes incredibly powerful.
Speaker 1:Shifting how you interpret a situation directly influences how your body reacts, helping you respond with clarity and confidence instead of stress and fear. So, when you feel stressed, how does your body respond? Do you notice your heart racing, your muscles tensing up, maybe your mind going into overdrive, your stomach doing somersaults? You're holding your breath. For me, all of the above, especially my stomach doing somersaults. But you know what? These reactions are completely natural. Remember, stress is simply your body's way of preparing you for action. It's not good or bad, it just is. It's your built-in alarm system. Now the key is understanding that events themselves aren't inherently stressful. It's how we perceive them that determines whether we feel overwhelmed or empowered. It's your interpretation of stress that shapes your experience.
Speaker 1:Now, at the beginning of the episode, I asked have you ever noticed how two people go through the same exact experience but react differently? Well, imagine two individuals receiving the same breast cancer diagnosis. One thinks this is the worst thing that could happen to me. I don't know how I'll get through this. It happened to me. I don't know how I'll get through this. The other person thinks this is going to be tough, but I will find a way through it. Two people, the same diagnosis. One sees despair, the other sees resilience. But did you notice that both recognize the challenge, but only one sees a way forward?
Speaker 1:Now, this isn't about pretending that everything is fine or ignoring reality. It's about becoming aware of your mindset around stress and then making a choice, because how you think about stress matters. It can hold you back or help you move forward. Now don't just take my word for it. This is backed by research. One of my favorite TED Talks is by Kelly McGonigal. She's a health psychologist and lecturer at Stanford University, and the name of her TED Talk is how to Make Stress your Friend. Now I have a link to this in the show notes for you. One thing she said is that people who believe stress is harmful tend to experience more negative effects from it, but those who see stress as energy fueling them to meet a challenge actually have better health outcomes, even in difficult circumstances. Now there are essentially two ways we can think about stress, and they lead to very different outcomes. So one mindset is stress is harmful and the other mindset is stress is helpful. So, as I share about each of these mindsets, I want you to think about which mindset you're experiencing in your cancer journey.
Speaker 1:Here we go With the mindset that stress is harmful. You might see those physical stress responses, the racing heart, the tension. You might see those or label those as bad signs. You might think, oh no, I'm feeling anxious, I'm not coping well, this is terrible, I can't do this coping well, this is terrible, I can't do this. You interpret stress as a weakness, of something going wrong. This mindset can actually amplify your stress and anxiety, making you feel even worse. It's like telling yourself stress is the enemy and you're losing the battle.
Speaker 1:Well, let me share an example of how I made stress the enemy. Well, following my first round of breast cancer this was back in 2018, I started a new job and began taking tamoxifen, used to treat hormone receptor positive breast cancer, and what it does is reduce estrogen levels, and this can lead to increased anxiety or emotional instability. And let me tell you, the anxiety hit hard and I felt like a hot mess. I felt like I was in constant PMS. I started feeling a lot of stress at work and that just amplified the anxiety that I was already feeling. And, to make it worse, I was beating myself up for feeling anxious. Eventually, I had to go out on medical leave because I stressed myself out so bad and, to make it worse, I beat myself up again for not being able to handle the stress. Clearly, I saw stress as bad and I had a stress is harmful mindset.
Speaker 1:But what if we flip the script? What if, instead, we adopted a mindset that stress is helpful? With this mindset, you interpret those same physical responses, the racing heart, the energy surge, as your body getting energized and ready for action. You see stress as your body preparing you to meet the challenge head on. You might think okay, my body is gearing up, I'm getting stronger, I can handle this. This is seeing stress as a tool to help you rise to the occasion. As a tool to help you rise to the occasion Now. In my previous example, I shared how I stressed myself out and went out on medical leave.
Speaker 1:Well, during my time off, I learned how to ride an electric skateboard called a boosted board, and riding it was so exhilarating. And when it was time to return to work, I was deciding whether or not I wanted to commute to and from my shuttle stop on my boosted board. My husband was commuting on his one wheel at the time, and so I thought oh, wow, it would be fun for me to do something similar, but I wasn't sure if I was ready. And then my husband said something that changed everything he said. And then my husband said something that changed everything. He said imagine having that feeling every day on your way to work. I remember the moment he asked me that question and I said, yes, I am going to start commuting to and from my shuttle on my boosted board. It was about a five mile round trip.
Speaker 1:But what I started noticing every morning before heading out is that I had a stomach ache and I would tell myself that I was nervous and that I was scared. That didn't make me feel good, but I still was able to ride. But about a week later I woke up again in the morning and noticed my stomach hurting. But this time I told myself that you know what it's completely normal to feel nervous. This was something new that I was doing and you know, riding a boosted board, an electric skateboard, it's kind of scary and it's dangerous if you don't know how to ride safely. And that helped me to see that my stomach aches were a way of my body preparing me to ride safely, way of my body preparing me to ride safely. And this helped me to realize that, although I was nervous, I was actually a lot more excited about riding than I was nervous about riding After that when I'd notice a stomach ache, I'd say to myself wow, shannon, you're really excited. You're really excited. And soon after I stopped getting stomach aches because I shifted my mindset around the stress of writing.
Speaker 1:So the key thing to remember is that when you change your mind about stress, you change how your body responds to it. So instead of seeing stress as a threat, you can see it as a signal of your strength and resilience. And by shifting your mindset, you can channel that energy in a way that supports you rather than overwhelms you. But keep in mind that shifting your perspective about stress it's a gradual and ongoing process. Be gentle with yourself as you navigate this inner shift. Allow yourself the space to explore this new perspective without judgment. It may take time to fully integrate this shift in your mindset, so choose to celebrate small victories and be patient with yourself as you cultivate a more supportive and understanding relationship with stress. Supportive and understanding relationship with stress.
Speaker 1:Now I want to transition and share with you three practical tools to help you adopt a mindset that stress is helpful. So the first tool that we'll take a look at is called the stress reset, and this tool has three steps. Step one is to notice what's happening in your body without judgment. This step is simple but powerful. So when you feel stress creeping in the heart, racing, the tension in your shoulders, pause and name what you are experiencing. My palms are a little sweaty and that's it. No need to fix it, no need to fight it, just labeling what's happening. It helps to create space between you and your reaction, giving you the power to respond rather than just react.
Speaker 1:Step number two is to love yourself through it. So, before trying to fix or change the feeling, take a moment to meet it with kindness. So you might say to yourself this is a hard moment and it makes sense that I'm feeling this way. I'm doing my best and I will support myself through this. You can even place a hand on your heart or take a couple of deep breaths to reinforce that sense of self-compassion. When we respond to stress with understanding rather than self-judgment, we shift from fighting our emotions to supporting ourselves through them.
Speaker 1:And step number three look at it differently. Now that you've acknowledged what you're feeling with kindness, you can shift how you interpret it. So, instead of thinking this is anxiety, this is bad, you could try. My heart is racing because my body is giving me energy because my body is giving me energy. This is my body preparing me to be strong and focused. Here's another one Instead of my chest is tight, I'm panicking before this appointment. You could try my chest is tight, my body is energizing me, so I can be clear and advocate for myself in this appointment.
Speaker 1:By noticing what's happening in your body without judgment, loving yourself through it and looking at the situation differently, you can move from feeling overwhelmed by stress to using it as fuel for strength, clarity and resilience. And resilience. Okay, the second tool Stress Less, connect More. This tool reminds you that you are not alone in this. Stress can feel heavy, but leaning on others can make a huge difference, not just emotionally, but physically too. So when you reach out, whether it's to a friend, a family member, a support group or even our breast cancer reimagined community, your body responds in a powerful way. Talking, sharing, even just getting a warm hug releases oxytocin, the cuddle hormone. It's your body's natural way of calming stress, lowering anxiety and reminding you that you are supported. Remember, vulnerability isn't weakness, it's connection, and sometimes just hearing I get it, you're not alone is enough to shift how we feel. So if you're carrying stress today, don't do it alone. Reach out, connect and let your body and your people help you through it. Tool number three strength spotlight.
Speaker 1:The first step in managing stress is awareness. Before going into a situation that you think might be stressful, pause for a moment and check in with yourself. Ask yourself what am I feeling? Where do I feel it in my body? And do this with no judgment, just noticing. Just noticing. Now. Shift your focus. Stress might feel like the enemy, but your strengths are your greatest allies. So when stress creeps in, ask yourself what strength can I lean on right now? I remember the first time I had to do an MRI. I was scared. The thought of going into that tube and the loud sounds really made me nervous. But I decided you know what I am going to call on my bravery. So I said to myself I am brave, I can face this. It became my mantra. Became my mantra.
Speaker 1:Another character strength that you might use is perseverance. You might say to yourself I've overcome challenges before I can do it again. Another example the character strength of hope. You might say better days are ahead and I will keep moving forward. In the show notes there's a list of the 24 character strengths and there's also a link to the VIA survey if you would like to get a free personalized character strengths profile. Think of activating your strengths, like putting on your superhero cape it reminds you of who you are and what you're capable of.
Speaker 1:Now, as we close out this episode, remember these three things. Stress is your body's natural response to a challenge. It's a physical and psychological reaction to a perceived threat. Number two stress is energy you can choose to use it. And number three the way you think about stress changes the way your body experiences it. Now it's your turn. Which of the three practices will you explore this week? The stress reset, stress less, connect More or the Strength Spotlight? If this episode resonated with you, hit, follow and share it with someone who might need to hear this today. Please join our Breast Cancer Reimagined Facebook group so we can support each other. The link is in the show notes. In our next episode, we'll explore the power of gratitude. Don't forget to subscribe. I'll talk with you in the next episode. Thank you for joining.