Wellness Wednesday – “Strength Zone Vs. Stress Zone”
Get ready for a game-changer in your vocational wellness! In our last several Wellness Wednesdays, we’ve been tackling stress management in different life roles. Today, we’re introducing a concept that can transform how you approach stress – the concept of knowing your Strengths Zone vs. your Stress Zone.
As we hear about in Psalm 139:13-16, Ephesians 2:10, and 1 Peter 4:10-11 each of us have been created on purpose for a purpose that God has in mind for our lives as we seek to love and serve our neighbors in our various stations in life. As such, we are each born with God-given natural talents and abilities as gifts of God’s grace. Over time, we start building upon these gifts and talents with knowledge and skills.
To begin with, the knowledge and skills often build upon our natural God-given talents and abilities. However, over time, as we progress through our education and life, we start not only building up but also building out. The more we build up, the more we are in our Strengths Zone. Yet, the more we build out, the more we find ourselves with skills, knowledge, and experience that are not supported by our natural God-given talents. That is our Stress Zone!
The tasks you engage in that are not supported by your natural talents and gifts take longer, are more difficult, and can, over time, leave you feeling depleted. Hang out in your Stress Zone long enough, you start experiencing that fight-or-flight response, burnout, and serious health consequences. And like a game of Jenga, the tower of your life can fall down because it is not supported with a strong foundation.
So, what practical steps can you take to build up rather than out in your Strengths Zone rather than your Stress Zone? Here are three of the most impactful ideas:
- Job Sculpting – While we can never do this perfectly, offload some of your daily tasks that you are not naturally talented at and engage more in the things that are supported by your God-given abilities. If you are a hand in the Body of Christ, stop trying to be a foot.
- Partnering – Find someone who has complementary God-given talents to your own and vice versa. As we hear in Ecclesiastes 4:9, “Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor.”
- Work with a coach – As defined by the International Coaching Federation (ICF), a coach partners with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential. Coaching often unlocks previously untapped sources of imagination, productivity, and leadership. We have coaches in our SED Coaching Network who are ready to help you tap into your God-given talents to build a Strengths-based life and ministry.