On this episode of The One Problem podcast, Nancy Ynchaustegui, otherwise known as the Deviant Teacher, and health and fitness coach, is talking about how to get ahead of stress.
Okay. Hi there. My name is Avil Beckford, and today is the latest episode of The One Problem podcast interview. My guests come on, they present a problem, and they have six minutes to provide a solution. And it's a way for all of us to learn from each other. Most of the interviews I've done so far, I have some sort of relationship with my guest, and I met Nancy maybe a year-and-a-half ago. ago Now we're in a Facebook group together. I'm feeling a little stressed. I think I'm going to mess up her name today.
My very special guest is Nancy Ynchaustegui.
Nancy Ynchaustegui
Perfect. Hi. Thank you so much for having me here. It's super, and an honor to be here speaking with you and your audience. And a great challenge to get that solution out quickly, and to the point. So I appreciate that the problem that I would like to address today is getting ahead of stress. So you were talking about stress just now, and a lot of times we get stressed because of expectations that we place on ourselves, either from childhood things or from wanting to be perfect.
And I just want to start off by saying that you don't have to be perfect to be excellent. And you are excellent. Okay. So I'm going to start off because stress a lot of times we get very serious. So I'm going to lighten up the mood. And so when I was thinking about, I was like, let's talk about stress, and that might make me think of a song. I won't say the song, but you'll get the hint. So let's talk about stress, baby.
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Let's talk about you and me. Let's talk about all the good things and the bad things that may be. Let's talk about stress. So it's important for us to understand that stress is not always a bad thing that we have stress hormones. And we have those hormones for a reason. Our body would not have them. We would not be evolved to have stress hormones unless they were beneficial to us. So under extreme circumstances or situations where we would need stress, it helps us to stay motivated, be focused on what we're doing.
Nancy Ynchaustegui
But the issue comes when we have chronic stress or perpetual stress, or we're always in a stressed state that is detrimental to our physical health. It causes many of the ailments and diseases that we have within our body. It affects our mental health. It affects our creativity as entrepreneurs and creatives. It affects so many different aspects that we don't even think about. So that's why I want to address the chronic stress part. So I want to break it down into two different parts. We have acute and we have anticipated.
So acute stress would be stress in the moment. Like, right now, you're experiencing a stressful situation right now. So there's a couple of things that you can do to help alleviate that acute stress. The first one is to leave wherever you are, right? So if you're sitting in front of your laptop, get up and go outside, change your location. Getting outside is particularly good because we see expansive views, and we're seeing a big, open, expansive view. Your brain naturally thinks, oh, calm, beautiful. And it kind of lowers those stress hormones.
Another thing you can do. I am a movement specialist, and I work on a lot with my clients about getting more movement in their day and the benefits of movement. So moving your body is super important when you contract your muscles. So we know that when we move our body, we release endorphins, which help make us feel better. But they're coming to learn about lots of other different hormones and molecules and chemicals that are released only when we move our body. So, for example, hope molecules are released from our muscles, go through the blood brain barrier and affect our mood.
Nancy Ynchaustegui
They call them hope molecules because it makes you feel more hopeful. So when you're in a very stressed situation, who doesn't want hope, right. A lot of times when we're stressed is because we're thinking of doom and gloom, the worst case scenario. So these hope molecules will definitely help you in those situations. And the last thing is just to breathe. So you can practice the four, four, six breathing pattern where you take a deep inhale through your nose. Through your nose is important. Through your nose for four, you hold it for four, and then you release it for six again.
This triggers to our brain that we are calm and safe. And we also activate our vagus nerve, which helps calm us. So let's talk about the anticipated anxiety. You know, you have a stressful week coming up or there are holidays. You know, you're going to be pulled in all different directions. What do you do? The stress isn't here yet, but you know, it's here. And a lot of times with the stress, then comes anxiety because you're thinking about the stress coming up and you're spending more time thinking about the bad outcome of it than actually the solution of it.
So number one, plan ahead. It doesn't have to be months in advance, it could be for that week. Or it could be for the next day. So if you look at your calendar, and you see that you have a lot going on with yourself, with your family, with your job, then plan ahead and know, okay, Wednesday is going to be a super crazy day for me. I'm not going to be able to make a home cooked meal, which is totally okay. The guilt is the important thing to release.
Nancy Ynchaustegui
I'm going to order in for that day. Okay, plan ahead and in planning ahead, you know, and you have time to ask people for help. So if you wait until the last minute to figure out what you're going to do, then it's harder to get people to help you. And it's important that you are not afraid of asking people for help because people want to help.
And if they can't, they'll say no. If you're a boss or you have employees or both, and you have deadlines coming up, ask for those specific deadlines. Ask for the information you need to complete the project. Ask for the information that you need to get that deadline done, right. To be successful with that, with teaching, because I'm a middle school teacher as well. There's a lot of miscommunication or no communication, and then they tell us last minute. So don't feel bad asking over and over. If they want this to be successful, then you need that information.
The One Problem Podcast: Nancy Ynchaustegui Talks About Getting Ahead of Stress
So continue to ask them. And that forces them to get their act together. If they're not doing that, then you need to set boundaries and be like, “Well, if I don't have this information by Thursday, then I'm not going to be able to complete the project”, or “I'm going to have to do something else”. That's if you're waiting for information to give someone else a product, as a client, like, I need your copy in order to do the graphic. And if they don't do that, you tell them what's involved there.
Nancy Ynchaustegui
If you are waiting for someone else so that you can do something for you personally, you have to also plan.Okay, what if they don't give me the information? What am I going to do instead? So setting those boundaries really helps. And then once you set those boundaries, and you stick to them, which is really hard, people will learn that they need to get you your information, and you become a priority. I think the most important thing is to analyze your to-do list. Our to-do list is long and never ending.
I want you to look at that to-do list, and how many of those to do are actually yours, and how many of them are actually someone else's things that they're asking you to do. Those things that might not be pertaining to things that you need for your job, just other people's agenda. So you need to prioritize that as well and figure out what am I doing? One, not of obligation that I don't have to do. I'm just doing it out of obligation. Two, I'm doing to be liked or to have a good reputation or to look good or whatever it might be.
You need to really analyze those things because doing all of that for everybody is not worth the stress and the long-term effects on your health and your wellness. So you really need to figure out what you can remove, especially in higher times. Right. So if you have a low and it's not so busy for you personally, then you can take on some other things. But if it's crazy time for you and you have a lot of things that you need to get done or that you're doing for fun, right.
Nancy Ynchaustegui
So I'm a dancer and I have rehearsal. My kids also have their activities, and sometimes I have to tell them I'm sorry. You can't go to practice today. I have a rehearsal that I have to go to in order to perform. So it's not always work related. It could be something personal, too. It doesn't have to be something so crucial for you to say no to someone else about. I just say “On Friday, I'm going to the movies. No. I cannot do whatever you're asking me to do.”
You know what I'm saying? I want you to take all those things into consideration, but really analyze that to-do list. Once that to-do list is small enough, and you're prioritizing, then you can build in time for when things pop up because that's another issue. Things pop up that we didn't expect. You can't expect everything and predict everything. So, if you have some time in your schedule, then you will feel calm and not stressed because you have the time. That is my solution to getting ahead of stress and also dealing with acute stress situations.
Back to you, Avil.
Avil Beckford
Thank you so much, Nancy.
Nancy Ynchaustegui
You're welcome. Thank you.
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