The consequences of Covid-19 outbreak which is currently overwhelming the world induce a great deal of anxiety. Let’s work on beating our stress throughout this discomforting period thanks to the ‘positive psychology’.

You’ve obviously rarely experienced such a distressing period! Juggling between your courses, your exam preparation, your dissertation, your search for a school for your academic studies and most importantly not being able to leave your home, meet your friends nor practice sports outdoors is quite stressful.There will be a great deal of uncertainty in the coming months when it comes to finding an internship or a job opportunity.

But keep in mind that except for passing your exams, you have no control over what is happening. So it is advisable that you move beyond your negative feelings during this period and bolster a positive emotional state for a serene future.

You think this is easier said than done? Yes, this article and the webinar scheduled this Saturday will help you reduce your stress and counter the negative effects of this virus. It will, most importantly, give you the tools to develop your skills, your competencies and your well-being. It is called “positive psychology”!

Reduce your level of stress

We’ve all, at one point, experienced stress. However, we should prevent stress from persisting too long in our system or intensifying as it damages our physical and mental health. The confinement and the uncertainty contributes to acute worrying. So, instead of hiding our emotions or fighting them (fear, boredom, anger, sadness) we should learn to ease them in order to better cope with them.

How?

• Inhale deeply during 5 seconds and exhale during 5 seconds
• Continue your breathing exercise (5 seconds of inhaling/exhaling) during 5 minutes
• Start the exercise now. You should feel your shoulders relaxing. This will also reduce by 50 % your stress hormones, reduce your blood pressure, etc.
• You can also :
  – Watch videos on the internet by typing “cardiac coherence”
  – Download applications such as Respirelax

Emphasize your personality assets

Here is another tool that allows you to identify your main skills in order to better bring them forward when choosing your internship or when interviewing for a job.
The quote “May the force be with you” makes you undoubtedly think of Star Wars. But guess what, it also refers to a scientific finding published in 2004.
The psychologists Peterson et Seligman undertook a worldwide study to identify the universal personality traits which they called character strenghts. They found 24 traits (for instance humor, motivation, self-control, leadership, creativity, authenticity) and each of pour personalities is composed of 5 to 7 different forces.

Be yourself! Everyone else is already taken.
Oscar Wilde, Irish writer (1854-1900)

Stand out from the crowd by emphasizing the traits that make you unique, as they will help you become more efficient on a daily basis. Moreover, knowing your strengths will allow you to choose the internship that corresponds best to your personality.

If you unveil these strengths when performing your future job, you will most certainly bring more enjoyment to your professional chores.

Do the VIA survey which explores personality strengths :

• Choose your preferred language before creating your profile, then answer the questions.
• Expect surprising results!
• To access the entire findings, click on ‘See all’ on the bottom of the first page of your results.

Test the tools of the article this week so that we can discuss your thoughts this Saturday*. I will also share many more tools among which you can choose the ones that best match your personality, the problems you face and the goals you set for yourself.

See you on Saturday!

*Webinar: Stay Positive! My tools to reduce stress and boost my success – Saturday May 2nd from 2 PM to 5 PM – Open only to registered members (limited spots, first come first served).

Matthieu Dubourg, founder of “B Happy” who offers workshops and events around positive emotions.