How to Face a New Year with Energy
The calendar has turned its page. We are starting a new year, even though we remain immersed in a roller coaster of complexity and challenges. Still, who doesn’t make plans and set new goals at the beginning of each year?
Within a few weeks, we might lose momentum. We start to feel discouraged if we do not meet our goals. Change is still very present, and uncertainty is part of our daily lives.
Stress seems like a permanent tenant in our homes and lives. What happens then? We risk normalizing stress and failing to care for ourselves as we deserve.
Is Stress “Bad”?
Not necessarily. At least, not from the Salutogénesis perspective. Salutogénesis researches stress and rejects the idea that stressors are inherently negative.
What is bad is normalizing life with stress, anxiety, and tension. Failing to address and heal ourselves can be truly harmful.
As long as we see ourselves as fragmented—divided between mind and body, health and illness, good and bad—we live in polarity. This mindset makes us experience life situations with stress.
We reject one pole because we want to be in the other. This struggle drains a massive amount of our energy.
Energy and Stress
We also exchange energy with people, living beings, and our environments. Emotional interactions occur between us, affecting our biological and physiological functions. These are crucial for our health.
The dominant medical approach still views body and mind as separate. It even separates them from their environment. However, direct observation and Salutogénesis research show us otherwise:
stressors can have healthy or beneficial consequences. This depends on their characteristics and, above all, on our ability to resolve them (Antonovsky, SOC).
Overcoming challenges and personal limits helps us grow. Feeling connected to everything and everyone expands our vital energy.
The Effects of Stress Intensify During Times of Change
Stress is one of the most studied phenomena across various fields. These include sociology, physiology, neurology, nursing, pharmacy, psychology, and medicine.
The effects of stress intensify during times of change. They relate to how we perceive life events. If we view them as threats, mental noise increases, and we easily lose our desired “peace of mind” or inner peace.
Research on stress has spanned over seven decades. Yet, it still fails to openly recognize the physiological impact of emotions and the thoughts that trigger them.
Training to Overcome Tension and Stress
Stress management is a key life and health skill. In 2003, the WHO named it one of the ten basic skills needed since childhood to preserve optimal mental health.
Other related skills include recognizing emotions and feelings, resolving conflicts, and addressing problems.
You can find a detailed explanation of stress and its impact on health in several school podcasts:
Do You Want to Gain Energy?
It is simple: you just need to find your motivation and meaning. Numerous studies show that a lack of meaning and life purpose is linked to physical and psychological distress.
Even so, we do not need to have it all figured out today. Studies show that psychological distress occurs when we force ourselves to find and meet goals.
What we need now is the determination to find meaning in what happens. We must avoid rushing to the next experience without connecting to the one we are living right now.
It is not the quantity of experiences but the quality and warmth with which we live them that gives them depth and meaning. Having goals and purposes is noble. However, it should not become a constant search for new challenges. This attitude often indicates distress, especially among young people (16 to 29) and young adults (30 to 49).
Meaning helps us avoid discouragement when we fail at our New Year’s resolutions. When we find what gives meaning to this moment, we no longer view things as success or failure. Instead, we open the door to trust and gratitude. Studies show that finding greater meaning in life relates to higher levels of well-being and mental stability.
The Art of Framing Your Resolutions
When advancing in the science and art of setting goals, we must ensure they are meaningful and motivating from a human perspective.
- This means our resolutions should consider that we are multidimensional and multi-potential beings. An open and complete perspective benefits us.
- They must make sense. We want our diverse intelligences, abilities, and facets to coexist and expand in coherence.
- Framing resolutions within a broader scope that gives us meaning helps us view events as opportunities.
This increases our understanding of what happens. We will challenge ourselves with hope and desire to find the assets, skills, and resources we need, filling our lives with satisfaction and quality.
Healing from Stress by Refocusing Our Energy
“It is not stress that kills us, but our reaction to it. If you want to live a long life, focus on making contributions. Every stress leaves an indelible scar, and the organism pays for survival by growing a little older.” (H. Selye)
By losing our fear of change, we gain opportunities to serve and leave a mark of quality on our lives and the lives of others.
If you want to take the first step on this journey, check out: Who Am I? What Moves Me? This course guides you up an 11-step ladder (10 + 1) on an exciting path from the mind to the heart.
The heart’s energy contains no anxiety. It is a constantly pumping energy that leads you to know yourself. It connects you with what you are called to do this year and in the years to come. Today and every day, we can fill ourselves with energy and health.
