Positive Psychology's Lessons For Coping With Stress - Dr Samantha Boardman - #358

**Chris Williamson** (0:00)
Yes, team, welcome back to the show. My guest today is Dr. Samantha Boardman. She's a psychiatrist and an author. Divorces, bankruptcies and moving house are major stresses, but what about the micro stresses we deal with every day? How much do they contribute to diminishing our wellbeing, and what can we do to stop that from happening? Today, expect to learn which activities, studies say are most effective for making you resilient to stress, how to break a downward spiral in your growth, why discomfort is a feature, not a bug, how creating a persona can give you more confidence and much more. The bottom line is that most of the stresses that we actually encounter are the small ones. They're the getting stuck in traffic, the dropping coffee on ourselves, and those are the ones that we actually have control over. The huge catastrophes, if we were able to get out of their way, we probably would, but we don't, because we can't. So, we need to make ourselves as resilient as possible by controlling the stresses that we can. Before I get to other news, thank you to everyone who's reached out and said that they're really enjoying the Modern Wisdom reading list. It did take me ages, so hearing that it's adding tons of value to people's lives is great. And if you haven't got your copy, then what are you doing with your life and your face? Get your face, take it to chriswellex.com/books. In these other news, this episode is brought to you by 99designs. It is the go-to graphic design platform by Vistaprint that makes it easy for you to work with professional creative experts from around the world and build your brand through custom memorable design. From website design to logos, apps, adverts, clothing designs and packaging, 99designs is where you can get an incredible design you'll love quicker and cheaper than anywhere else. I see so many people who want to start their own project asking, does anyone know any good designers? The only place that you need to go is 99designs. It's literally a faster, more affordable and more convenient way to find and work with the best designers on the planet. They have a one of a kind creative process, which makes magic with a global community that loves to collaborate. They turn your great ideas into a custom design that you can't get anywhere else. I think my events company has used 99designs by Vistaprint at least four or five times over the last 10 years. And there are some of the pieces of artwork that we got from those contests that we are still using right now, legitimately. One contest that we ran five years ago or something, and we're still using what we were submitted then. If you want to upgrade your design work or just see what 99designs by Vistaprint can do for you, head to 99designs.com/modernwisdom and you will get a free power pack upgrade, which is worth over 70 pounds. It boosts the number of design proposals that you can receive and get you a better variety to choose from. Head to 99designs.com/modernwisdom and click get started to find a design that you'll love. In other other news, this episode is brought to you by Pure Sport CBD. If you are struggling to switch off and sleep on a nighttime, I highly recommend their Unwind Blend. It's an all natural mix of remedies including Valerian Root and Chamomile and Vitamin B Complex and Lavender and 1500mg of CBD. It'll help you to get to sleep quicker on a nighttime, stay asleep and feel more rested and revitalized in the morning. They are the only company that does CBD, as far as I know, that has every batch double third party tested by two separate companies and they've got over a thousand reviews on Trustpilot at an average of 4.8 stars. If you're dealing with muscle soreness, they've got balms and freeze roll ons. They've also got boost and clarity products if you want to get yourself a little bit more energy during the day. Plus, you can get 20% off all full priced items by going to pure sportcbd.com/modernwisdom and using the code MW20 at checkout for a big fat 20% discount. Plus, they ship internationally, so no matter where you are in the world, you can get the highest quality CBD products, including their amazing Unwind Blend, pure sportcbd.com/modernwisdom and MW20 for 20% off. But now it's time for the wise and wonderful Dr. Samantha Boardman.
You're a practicing psychiatrist. What have been some of the most common trends that you've seen over the last year?

**Samantha Boardman** (4:50)
Interestingly, in the very beginning of the pandemic, I was really worried about some of my patients who have a lot of anxiety. And here's what happened, is a lot of them felt unbelievably prepared for the pandemic. They told me that they were giving advice to their worried well friends, who typically would say to them, why are you so anxious? What worries you all the time? You should come out more. And it was really interesting that they had a lot of strategies that they used. They had a lot of, they would use CBT, they sort of knew how to manage their anxiety. And so they found themselves in this position of being advice givers and that their experience was sort of helping somebody else.