April is Stress Awareness Month

Licensed Therapist Matt Sharpe joins us to discuss Stress Awareness Month - what are healthy and unhealthy reactions to stress?

More information can be found here: https://www.standuptherapylive.com/

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Here's a number from our next guest. Work related stress
issues impact eighty three percent of workers and collectively cost
American companies over eight hundred thousand dollars every week. Is
West Michigan's Morning News see Kelly and Red Mekita. I'm
getting all worked up about it. Licensed therapist Matt Sharp

(00:22):
back with us. Today is April is National Stress Awareness Month. Matt,
thanks for doing this today.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Thank you so much for having me, guys, I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
So I guess we can't get away from stress. Stress
is a normal reaction to things like the stupid email
I got like an hour ago. But that's I'm not
going to get worked up about that again. I already did.
But it's how we react to stress that can somehow
show that maybe we need to look into some help.
Talk to us a little bit about like a what

(00:52):
is a natural and healthy reaction to stress?

Speaker 3 (00:56):
Well, the reality for us is that, you know, stress
is everywhere, it affects everything, and most of the time
stress is actually very beneficial for us. When we experience
a little bit of stress, you know, propels us to
meet deadlines, to overcome challenges. In fact, if we had
no stress whatsoever, I don't know. I think we'd all
be like, you know, buddy, the elf on that movie

(01:18):
would be you know, happy, but we'd accomplish nothing. So
we need a little bit of stress in our life.
It propels us to do the things that need to
get done. It's actually very beneficial in the right dose.

Speaker 4 (01:29):
I love syrup, by the way, on that elf reference,
but not on everything. I will say this though, to
that point, how does humor now? I know Steve and
I love to do what we do on the radio,
and hopefully you know, our goal is to make people laugh,
make people smile in the morning, get their day started, right,
But it really humor can help as far as stress, right.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
Oh, absolutely absolutely.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
I mean the two big ways when I use humor
in therapy or in my stand up work. You know,
the two things that humor really does well for us is,
first of all, it helps us to reframe our situation.
Every joke, every punchline is a surprise that causes us
to see a situation differently. When we can do that
in real life and just look at a situation from

(02:10):
a different perspective, it helps us manage.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
That moment better.

Speaker 3 (02:14):
And of course, you know, laughter just releases so many
happy drugs in our brain. You know, you get to
your endorphins and dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, all those wonderful brain
chemicals get released. And I promise you that is the
cheapest prescription you'll ever find.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
There's no cope for that whatsoever.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
So, Matt, when do I know when my reaction to
stressful situations or regardless of how I'm trying to cope
with my stress is unhealthy? When do I know when
it's time to contact somebody like you to maybe sit
down and find resources to work it out.

Speaker 3 (02:49):
Yeah, and it's a silly analogy, but I'll tell people
stress is like a smoke detector. You know, if there's
a little bit of stress that goes off, maybe you
burn some toasts. We can hand that on our own.
We open up windows, we yell at whoever's cooking, you know,
all that fun stuff. But if the smoke detector goes
off and my kitchen's on fire, well then we need
some professional help. And so some of the signs and

(03:11):
symptoms for that is if we have chronic anxiety, irritability,
if we can't sleep, if the stresses you know, affecting
our relationships and other people who love us are saying, so,
what's wrong with you?

Speaker 2 (03:21):
Man?

Speaker 3 (03:22):
That's usually a good time at least to do a
check in with somebody who's trained in therapy that can
offer I do cognitive therapy has proven very helpful with
stress and anxiety. So that's usually the time we really
need to reach out to somebody.

Speaker 1 (03:36):
And I think in maybe just thirty seconds on relieving
people of the stigma, I think a lot of people think, well,
I don't want to be that guy or gal, but
I certainly am not healthy right now. Talk to us
a little bit about how transformative I know it has
been in my life. Therapy can be just by finding
somebody that knows what they're doing.

Speaker 3 (03:56):
Yeah, there is the stigma that still exists that thinks
if I'm talking to someone, if I'm putting my hand
in the air and saying I need therapy, that it's
a sign of weakness. It really isn't, at least in
my opinion. Obviously I'm a therapist. I'm biased, but I
became a therapist after a therapy journey, you know, several
decades ago, and just recognizing that there are people out
there who have you know, some tricks and tools and

(04:19):
insights that can actually help me overcome my problems. To me,
it becomes a helpful tool. It's no different in my
mind than Hey, I go to the doctor for a
pain in my chest, I go to the dentist for
the plaque on my teeth. I go to a therapist
to get the tools to cope. That it should be
just as simple as.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
Them, therapist, comedian, and so much more. Matt Sharp will
put the link to stand uptherapylive dot com in the
podcast section at wood radio dot com. Matt, thanks for
your time today.

Speaker 3 (04:49):
Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
Guys, have a great day.