Mitigating Stress &
Building Resilience
What is Stress?
Stress is a feeling of emotional or physical tension. It can come from any event or thought that makes you feel frustrated, angry, or nervous.
What is Resilience?
Building resilience supports you in keeping things in perspective, and not feeling overwhelmed. Difficult and stressful situations arise and may cause you to feel angry, sad, or worried during tough times, and resilience allows you to keep stressful situations in a broader context with a long-term perspective.
When you are responsible for the financial well-being of the company, securing everyone else’s salaries, guiding the business through uncertainty, and finding the path to success - it can be easy to feel overwhelmed. Stress impacts everyone, but business leaders often have a higher baseline of stress in their lives.
In addition, there are contributing factors in our culture that can make it feel like you are alone in holding these responsibilities - which exacerbates stress. One of the first steps in breaking this narrative of isolation is to identify and strengthen your community of support. Friends, professional networks, or peer support groups can help you increase your ability to notice, acknowledge, and shift stressful patterns.
“It took me several years to recover from the death of my brother. His passing was sudden, tragic, and came after a long battle with Bipolar disorder. ”
— Mano B Tondre, Founder of Dig Cooperative LLC
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“As kids, we celebrated our mixed race heritage and also had hard times fitting into the color categories of black, white, brown, yellow, red in America.
We enjoyed the diversity of cultures and ideas in the S.F. Bay Area and at the same time endured a good old fashioned hazing in the hard knock streets of Oakland.
We learned what it means when people say "whatever doesn't kill you only makes you stronger." The interesting flip side to this brotherhood of hazing is the underdog comeback story. I wanted my brother to live that story. When my brother died, half of my childhood dreams and memories were buried with him.
About seven years after he passed, I got tired of feeling sorry for myself. I had become my own worst enemy and needed to get on with living the rest of my life. I had children and they needed hope and inspiration in their lives. I surrendered my ego and committed myself to being vulnerable and getting help.
To this day, I continue to overcome addictions, depression, and post-traumatic issues on a daily basis. I identify with other people in their quest for healing and connection.
We have all loved and lost.
When I speak up and reach out to others, I overcome my feelings of aloneness.
Wellbeing Ingredients
Stress Management
Managing stress is an ongoing practice. Check out this guide for ideas about relaxing both your body and your mind to reduce the negative impacts of stress
Growing Resilience
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Healthy Thinking
There is no solution that is universal, or perfect, but using healthy thinking is one commonly adopted practice. Healthy thinking requires you to first notice and stop your thoughts and then to ask about your thoughts.