"We are in Charge of our Stress": Recap from October Events

Amy Magyar, OIWC Professional Development Chair, pulled together this recap thanks to input and comments from members and volunteers who attended the regional events October 20 and 25. Were you at the events? If so, we'd love to hear from you! Send us your thoughts on the events.

What did we learn October 20th and 25th from the OIWC events called "That Little Thing Called Stress”? We learned that WE are in charge of our stress. We create our stress, we hold onto it, we nurture it, and we can LOSE IT! We had two great speakers at the Denver REI store and Burlington Burton headquarters who had a chance to share with us what stress meant to them and offered some great tools on how to manage stress once and for all!

Outdoor Industries Women's Coalition enlisted renowned feisty woman and keynote speaker, Ava Diamond, to enlighten us about her thoughts on stress in Denver, October 20th for our Education Series. Thanks to event sponsors, American Recreation and REI, the event had large turnout with everyone wondering, "Can she help my stress level?”. She inspired us, motivated us, and equipped us with invaluable tools aimed at become more aware of our stress triggers and learning how to use these tools to minimize our stress levels.

Ava's unique style combined wisdom, humor, warmth, and a passion for results. To drive home her points, she used stories and examples people relate to—she had an uncommon ability to connect with the OIWC members. She was genuine, funny, thought provoking, passionate, down-to-earth, and refreshing. The audience loved her combination of practical information and high-energy delivery. Ava inspired action!

Her key message was "you are in charge” of your stress. The choices that you have made up until now are the ones that have created your stress. Perception is one way to keep the stress in check through the idea that mindset drives behavior. You choose how you want to react or respond to a stressor – let it swallow you whole or break it down into bite size pieces. You have control over your perception of what is happening to you and thus you have control over your stress. If we created our stress in the past and are in charge of it, how do we manage it now? The future is made up of thoughts, words, and actions. So step into your own personal power, take an inventory of your beliefs (belief you have around your success, yourself, whether you deserve success or not) and look to see where the negative self talk is creating obstacles for you…. because behind an obstacle, usually is stress. Remove the obstacle, help to remove stress. Or at least decide if the obstacle is scalable, removable, or in the case of Amy Purdy, our guest speaker in Burlington, Vermont October 25th, is the obstacle one you can "push off from”?

Thanks to Burton Snowboards and owner, Donna Carpenter, the members of OIWC received a special treat from professional snowboarder and skateboarder, Amy Purdy who shared with us her stress management tools. If you haven't met Amy Purdy, what will strike you is her presence. She is young, but carries herself with such wisdom that you would think she was in her upper 80s. Members at the event couldn't help but be energized when she spoke and she had a receiving line at the end of her talk so that each person in the audience could spend some time with her.

What makes Amy's story so unique is that at the age of 19, after suffering flu-like symptoms for 24 hours, she was rushed to the hospital in a state of septic shock. En route to the hospital, Amy experienced respiratory and multiple organ failure. Her hands, face, and legs were blue. Amy was diagnosed with Bacterial Meningitis and was in a coma for weeks, with less than a 2 percent chance of survival. She survived, fought her body to come back but lost her legs in the battle. She is a double amputee and has since turned her experience into an inspiration for others.

I could go on and on for hours about Amy's talk, but what I will share with you is some of her "tools to manage stress”. (I know, suddenly your stress doesn't seem as big of a deal as the stress she went through but remember what Ava said, it is all about perception…your stress is your stress, whether you lost your legs or not, it still hurts the same as Amy's.)

Purdy's tools included the advice to compartmentalize or separate each "thing” you are feeling that is stressful –break it down into mini bite size pieces you can focus on. For example, Amy told the story how when she was in the hospital recovering she broke her days up into "the day I am going to learn to walk” or the "day I am going to learn if my kidney is going to be replaced”. By focusing in on one thing at a time, it is more manageable and less overwhelming. She also believed strongly in "living in the moment” – accept what is happening for what it is. If you are in the moment, you can't be anxious because only anxiousness comes from living in the future. So be present and accept what is. Which leads to her other tool of "Being Grateful”. Gratitude for what her life is and what it could have been (much worse). She focuses on what she has, not what she doesn't.

The power of visualization is also important to her stress management – she saw herself walk again, she saw and actually felt herself snowboarding again (all from her hospital bed). She gave her mind something to hold onto and it couldn't help but follow through. Imagination and visualization is the key for her. Finally, sleep is her magic elixir for stress. When she is stressed, she realizes that her body needs sleep and so she listens. Without it, she will never be at her best.

Amy told us that her most stressful times have become the times she has become the most inspired. She uses obstacles and challenges to "push off from” and imagination to inspire her to break through them. Her non-profit, Adaptive Action Sports, along with her 3rd World Cup Gold Medal for Snowboarding made her glow when she spoke of both. And the fact that she can choose how tall she wants to be for her dates based on her prosthetic legs. And she can change her foot size depending on the shoe she needs to fit into

We laughed, we were inspired, we learned at both OIWC events. I hope that you have a chance to meet both women at some point. They left me humbled. Please look up Ava and Amy through their websites - their stories are rich and inspiring. And thank you again to all of the OIWC 2011 Education Series and Network Night sponsors this year – you inspire us all!