Hello, hello, it's Dora.
Welcome to Radiohead Space.
So the other day, while I was sitting on the 405 freeway in sunny Los Angeles,
I was listening to a podcast on stress and the evolutionary role it has on our lives.
In simpler terms, stress is what creates change.
The host gave the analogy of the brief but pivotal stress a butterfly undergoes as it bursts its wings
through its cocoon and takes flight.
It's this stress that allows the caterpillar to transform into a beautiful butterfly.
Stress is a catalyst for immense and incredible change.
For humans, it's the same.
Great change oftentimes requires a great amount of stress.
But the difference is, we have the ability to alter our perception of stress.
This reminds me of a TED Talk by Kelly McGonigal, a health psychologist from Stanford.
She says that research has shown that the way we perceive stress impacts our well-being.
Case in point, I'm 99% sure as the butterfly bursts through its cocoon,
that stress it experiences happens in the moment.
It doesn't go on thinking about the stress it went through.
It's too busy enjoying its new wing.
Our perception of stress is made up from past experiences, unaddressed emotions, maybe even trauma.
How we think about our stress really matters.