Let’s Talk About Stress

Weekly Radish 38

Why making a fool of myself had a genuine purpose

Ok, so in this week’s video I dredge up a slightly embarrassing attempt at promoting myself as the Stressed Guru form several years ago. I took the Salt n Pepa Song ‘let’s talk about sex baby’ as my inspiration for creating the parody song - ‘Let’s talk about stress’ and recorded it on video.    You can watch the video here ... Why?  Well, believe it or not, there was a serious point behind the title and the words.  Watch this video.

There’s also another big point to this video which I will address next week. In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed this week’s video.  Let me know what you think.

Dave
Dave Algeo,
Stress(ed) Guru Speaker, trainer and 'Men's Burnout+ Coach (coaching from burnout to break-through)
dave@stressedguru.com
Helping you create success with (not at the expense of) wellbeing.

Transcript:

- Let's talk about stress, baby.

Welcome to this week's Weekly Radish,

and this is a bit of a cringer for me

because I'm gonna be
dredging up an old video

that's still on my YouTube
channel for you to see

and I put the link at
the end of the video.

It was a genuine attempt to bring up

some important points in
a tongue in cheek way.

In a nutshell, the video's
"Let's Talk About Stress."

For those of you who are
of a certain generation,

you'll remember the Salt-N-Pepa song,

"Let's Talk About Sex, Baby."

I in my naive, younger days in business

thought it'd be great to do a parody song

called "Let's Talk About Stress, Baby."

♫ It's not all about chasing the wealth,

♫ So stop, don't panic

♫ Even though it's all manic

♫ Don't let psychology

♫ Screw biology

♫ Step away from technology

♫ And have yourself a cup of tea

♫ Let's talk about stress, baby

And here were the reasons
why I felt it important

to create that, albeit in
quite a cringeworthy way.

So the first reason was
because the title itself

gives it away.

Let's talk about stress,
let's talk about it

in a more open, positive,
and constructive way,

because many of us, I've
worked with hundreds

if not thousands of people
now, we all recognise

that stress itself, the
word, has a lot of baggage,

and it's become something
that we use inappropriately,

but also we are often
perceived as either weakness

or if you wanna do stress management,

let's go and hug a tree and
meditate, and I'm not knocking

any of those things, it's
the perceptions around

that there's something soft and fluffy

and you're weak if you
need to take an interest

or talk about stress.

And the reality is, stress,
although the word itself

may be problematic, represents the feeling

that many of us have
when we feel strained,

when we feel overwhelmed or overloaded

or ground down and we need to have

a more positive conversation
where we're not afraid

of being open about it,
we're also ready to tackle

when we feel that it is being overused

or inappropriately used,
but we are doing so

in a supportive way, a
supportive, empowering way

that doesn't mollycoddle
people but does support them

and empower them to take
back control of their lives,

and it was something that
was very important to me

and still is, that we talk openly,

constructively, and
positively about the strain

that human beings can be
under from time to time.

The second reason, and
it links into this idea

of baggage because there
are links between stress,

strain, and mental
wellbeing, mental ill health.

I am somebody, as many of you know,

I've struggled with my
own anxieties in the past,

anxiety's a condition, and feeling low,

feeling crushed by it from time to time.

And I've come to realise that again,

the way we talk about mental health,

mental ill health, mental
ill health being a problem

or a weakness or you just need
to pull yourself together,

there's a lot of
misunderstanding, a lot of fear

about how we both open
up to talk about it,

but also how we approach
and support people

who are struggling.

And the reason the let's
talk about stress song

for me is important is because
if we can get our language

right about stress and strain,
we can start to support

creating a climate around
how we support people

with mental health struggles.

Because many of us are managing
mental health conditions

lifelong, but that doesn't
mean they're problematic,

it may be that they're
problematic from time to time

but they're managing in life so let's have

a more constructive
supportive conversation

and create a culture whether
we're feeling overwhelmed

in the moment through
the stresses and strains

of life or we're genuinely struggling

with ill health, something
is not right in there

and we're struggling and
straining with anxiety,

depression, or something
even more significant,

we can have a climate
where we can be more open,

we can feel safe enough
to go I'm struggling here,

and we also feel confident
enough to know how

to approach and support that person.

The third reason is that I also wanted

a lighthearted way, and it
kinda feeds through my work

and workshops and
speaking and these videos,

is to use humour as a way
to break down those barriers

and get us talking about it.

And if you click on the video, you'll see

that throughout the song, there are tips,

there are suggestions that
I have used in these videos.

Step away from the
technology, have yourself

a cup of tea, let's
talk about stress, baby.

Let's be more open, let's communicate,

and let's give ourselves a break,

so the idea of the video
was to create a more

positive dialogue around
stress and strain,

a more positive support
to create a culture

and a climate that's
positive for being open

about mental wellbeing
and mental ill health,

and mental health problems, and to offer

some simple tips in a tongue in cheek way.

So the message still
stands: it's important

to be open in a constructive
and informed way.

So if you feel like you're struggling,

then talk about stress.

Let's talk about stress, baby.

Learn the six stress to putting stress

in its place by visiting
timeouttoolkit.com

and claiming your free ebook,
"Emergency Stress CPR."