Do you move towards pressure and figure it out or do you move sideways and cope?

The ability to learn from tension is a key aspect of mental skills training. One of the reasons that it’s important to be able to resolve stress and tension is the fact that tension is a direct result of one of the most basic features of human consciousness: curiosity.

If we didn’t wonder about the possibilities, we would never be stressed. If we were never stressed, we would never be forced to adapt and learn.

Curiosity is the basic engine of learning in our species and stress is a signal or cue that captivates curiosity.

If you cannot achieve a goal and you don’t care about the reasons, you are not ultimately going to experience stress. One the other hand, when you are driven, even perturbed to figure out why you are facing resistance and not progressing towards your goals, you are driven to learn, grow, and adapt.

Stress is the basic signal that draws our attention towards opportunities to improve and curiosity and intrigue are natural attributes of consciousness that can solve that tension. Once you have discovered stress you have essentially two strategic options: cope or learn.   

Coping with stress means getting it out of your mind. It means avoiding it, suppressing it, or forgetting it. At best it means that you are no longer held back by stress.

Cycling stress means resolving it. This implies learning, adaptation, and understanding the things that stand between you and your goals. At worst this means a new perspective and increased situational awareness. At best it means that you can now see through it and see it coming when the situation arises again and you can plan to return to your preset focal targets before the tension began to ramp up.

Are you moving into pressure or away from it?

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