Stress is a Choice

Navigating Love and Immigration™

Stress is a Choice

This week's episode of Navigating Love and Immigration explores the concept that we have the ability to choose how we respond to stress, even in the context of immigration. Host Megan Pastrana provides an overview of stress and its evolutionary purpose, and discusses how we can take responsibility for our emotions and the stress we experience.

Megan also delves into the importance of finding balance and healthy coping mechanisms, including self-care practices such as sleep, nutrition, physical activity, and relaxation. She also addresses the value of seeking support from others, including a therapist, and the role of communication and vulnerability in managing stress as a couple. In future episodes, Megan will be joined by a therapist to further explore this crucial topic.

Episode Highlights:

• The evolutionary purpose of stress
• Choosing how we feel and experience life
• Stress and the need for balance and healthy coping mechanisms
• Taking responsibility for our emotions
• The role of a therapist in helping individuals manage their stress
• The unique challenges faced by couples going through the immigration process
• The benefits of seeking support and guidance during the immigration process
• Strategies for managing stress and maintaining a healthy relationship
• The importance of self-care and finding healthy outlets for stress and emotions
• The role of communication and vulnerability in managing stress as a couple

Quotes:

"Falling in love is exciting. Maintaining a healthy relationship takes work. And when you're going through an immigration process, you are faced with unique challenges."

"We as human beings have this really amazing power of choice, this power to choose how we want to feel and experience life."

"The reality is stress is a really important part of our evolutionary biology... It's our fight or flight response… It gives us the ability to survive in really dangerous situations in life."

"The reality is we have to find balance and healthy coping mechanisms to be able to handle the stress that life throws at us."

"It's really important to take responsibility for our emotions and the stress that we have."

"I can't control when immigration is going to make a decision on our case, and I can't control how soon or how quickly this process will be done. But what I can control is where my focus is and how I want to experience the journey."

"Making sure that all of those things were a part of my day - to feel fulfilled, to fill my cup, and to take my focus off of being stressed.”

Links:

Immigration for Couples on LinkedIn

Immigration for Couples Website

Megan Pastrana’s LinkedIn