'Leaning in' to distressing thoughts and feelings

Everyone has encountered a particularly stressful time in their life when 'overwhelmed' seems to be a bit too gentle to describe the experience.  Recently, this humble student was reminded that 'performing' during these periods of high stress isn't something only athletes and pop stars experience. Performing is something we all do to some degree, including persons with pain who often try to hide their struggle (e.g., stressing when seeing a new doctor, struggling with exercise).  Although I struggled in my moment of frustration and misery to grasp the relevance of a wise man's words about coaches and athletes 'leaning in' to distress, I later found this reference to be super relevant, fairly comforting and perhaps even a little empowering.

​Encouragement to 'lean in' was actually tremendously helpful I think because it didn't invalidate or minimize the fear and misery I was feeling. Instead, 'lean in' conveyed empathy (this really is stressful/painful for you and failure will hurt) while encouraging me to invest my energy to face the challenge rather than in fighting/avoiding my fear and frustration (and ultimately my own sense of vulnerability). Leaning into fears makes us a little more comfortable with  those strong feelings and a bit more accepting of being a flawed, normal human.  Regardless of whether pain is a part of your life or not, practicing 'leaning in' is something we can all benefit from :)

​Click the picture below to learn more about 'leaning in'