334: How to Transform Stress to Work for You with Dr Rebecca Heiss

n today’s episode, Heather speaks with Rebecca Heiss, evolutionary biologist, speaker, and author of Springboard: Transform Stress to Work for You. Rebecca shares her groundbreaking perspective on stress, not as something to eliminate, but as a force you can reframe and harness. With her Fearless Stress Formula, she teaches how to stop fighting stress and instead use it as fuel for growth, resilience, and meaning.

Rebecca’s journey spans science, entrepreneurship, and personal challenge from founding an ice cream company to leading discomfort challenges and building communities. Together, she and Heather unpack the myths about stress and how you can shift your relationship with it to live a more powerful, purposeful life.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• The Fearless Stress Formula: A three-part system to stop fearing stress and start working with it.

• It’s Not a Tiger: How to recognize when your body’s “danger” signals are overreacting to everyday life.

• Transforming Stress into Energy: Why reframing anxiety as excitement can boost your performance.

• Curiosity Over Fear: How asking questions interrupts stress spirals and shifts perspective.

• Trajectory and Action: Why small steps into discomfort matter more than avoidance.

• Post-Traumatic Growth: The surprising science that shows stress and growth can coexist.

• The Power of Community: How stress can actually deepen connection and why support systems matter.
  
  

Resources & Links:

📖 Springboard: Transform Stress to Work for You Get the book here
🌐 Learn more about Rebecca’s work rebeccaheiss.com
🏀 Game Changer Basketball WeAreGameChanger.org

Episode Highlights:

[00:00] Meet Rebecca Heiss – scientist, author, and entrepreneur
[04:54] The Fearless Stress Formula: It’s Not a Tiger
[09:41] Stress as a sign of meaning and purpose
[11:12] Transforming stress into excitement and energy
[14:53] Why curiosity and fear can’t coexist
[17:57] The power of trajectory and action
[22:03] Learned helplessness vs. agency
[26:13] Post-traumatic stress and post-traumatic growth
[29:41] Building community with Game Changer Basketball
[32:57] Hope and the importance of support systems

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• [e-mail]

The Elegant Warrior Podcast and content posted by Heather Hansen is presented solely for general informational, educational, and entertainment purposes. The use of information on this podcast or materials linked from this podcast or website is at the user’s own risk. It is not intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, professional coach, psychotherapist, or other qualified professional, diagnosis, or treatment. Users should not disregard or delay in obtaining medical advice for any medical or mental health condition they may have and should seek the assistance of their healthcare professionals for any such conditions.