How to Stay Calm Under Pressure?

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Stress and pressure become a necessary part of our modern life. They both can be external and internal. While many people believe that it is hard to stay calm under pressure, experts do not agree. They think we can choose our reaction and minimize stress. Some of them suggest at least counting to ten when we face acute stress. Furthermore, they advise us to change our perception and focus on the big picture. Being calm under pressure is not easy at all. It is a strong challenge. But, experts suggest it is impossible neither. According to them, there are people who feel stressed under the lower pressure and people who experience less stress when facing a huge pressure. As everything in our life, this attitude needs practice. The more we practice, the stronger we get. Like with exercising, if we avoid pressure and strain, we cannot expect big results. Until we challenge our muscles with a number of repetitions or heavy weights, we will not get the expected body shape. To find out more about how to stay calm under pressure, the article “Embracing Stress Is More Important Than Reducing Stress, Stanford Psychologist Says” gives us an interesting explanation.

The initial research on stress mindsets, which was conducted by Stanford psychology Assistant Professor Alia Crum, showed that viewing stress as a helpful part of life, rather than as harmful, is associated with better health, emotional well-being and productivity at work – even during periods of high stress.

One reason that how you think about stress matters is because it changes how you respond to stress. Viewing stress as harmful leads people to cope in ways that are less helpful, whether it’s getting drunk to “release” stress, procrastinating to avoid stress, or imagining worst-case scenarios. One study found that simply having the goal to avoid stress increased the long-term risk of outcomes like depression, divorce and getting fired, by increasing people’s reliance on harmful coping strategies.

In contrast, viewing stress more positively seems to encourage people to cope in ways that help them thrive, whether it’s tackling the source of stress, seeking social support or finding meaning in it.

On the other hand, we cannot do all of that at once. We should practice some time with smaller weights and lesser repetitions. When we are ready, we can opt for more. Similarly, if we are not comfortable with less pressure, we cannot stay calm when pressure increases. Therefore, we need continuous practice.

Embracing stress is a huge step if we want to stay calm under pressure. In this way, we will minimize resistance and feel better about ourselves. Many experts believe that resistance adds more stress to a stressful situation. But, when we accept what it is, we will be calmer, able to think more reasonably and take a proper action under pressure.