Justin's Newsletter #1: The Right Amount of Stress is Called Stimulation (Digital Postcard)

Hi Friend!

Welcome to my first newsletter — I appreciate you signing up.

I'm toying around with a couple of ideas for the name (of the newsletter), including: "New Addition" (pun-themed) or "Curiosity Compass" (metaphor-themed). Shoot me a reply and let me know which one you like better.

It's the final week of Cohort 6 of Write of Passage (a transformational online writing course I've been taking for the last 5 weeks), and I wanted to share with you a piece that I just published that I'm particularly proud of. The original prompt was: what is your unique perspective?

The Right Amount of Stress Is Called Stimulation

Energy is coursing through my veins. My hands are clammy. All of my senses are heightened. My thoughts are racing, and I’m starting to panic. I know that I waited until the last minute to study for this exam, but this visceral, overdramatic response seems far too excessive for what I am facing.

In our advanced civilized society, we have become so disconnected from what it means to feel human. We mistake negative emotions, like stress, and it's cousins, procrastination,  anxiety and depression, as weakness of character. In reality, these are beacons, signals that something isn't right. If we can reframe how we look at these stressors, we can change our brain and body's response to them.

Armed with this new awareness, my hope is that you can begin to:
- Stop shaming yourself
- Start healing
- Start using that energy to propel myself yourself

Read the Full Article

Until next time!