The Battle Within
Sometimes, it feels like I’m walking a tightrope, but I can’t see the end, or even know if there’s solid ground beneath me. I wake up every morning with a knot in my stomach, the kind that doesn’t go away no matter how many deep breaths I take. Uncertainty looms large, like a shadow that follows me everywhere. Will I meet that deadline at work? Will my plans for the future pan out, or am I just fooling myself? It’s the not knowing that gets to me—the endless what-ifs. I think back to the night I stayed up until 3 a.m., refreshing my email, hoping for an answer about the job I’d interviewed for. The silence felt deafening, and with every passing hour, my thoughts spiraled further.
Then there’s the stress of being stuck in a situation you can’t change, no matter how much you want to. I think of my job—a position I’ve held onto for years even though it pays far less than I need to truly feel secure. Every pay-cheque feels like a reminder of how trapped I am. I sit at my desk, working overtime for little reward, while bills pile up at home. It’s hard not to feel bitter when I see others moving ahead, getting promotions, or taking vacations, I can’t afford.
The impact of these stresses is relentless, seeping into every corner of life. Physically, it starts small—tight shoulders, a pounding headache, or that ever-present weight on the chest. But over time, it worsens. Sleep becomes elusive, the mind racing long after the body is ready to rest. On some nights, I toss and turn, staring at the clock, knowing each passing hour will only make tomorrow harder. Mentally, the toll is even greater. The fear of the unknown and the frustration of feeling stuck create an endless loop of worry and self-doubt. I’ve found myself replaying the same scenarios in my head—what I could have said in that job interview or how I could have avoided my current financial strain. These thoughts are like quicksand; the more I try to reason my way out, the deeper I sink. What’s worse is how these stresses create a negative spiral. The energy I spend worrying about the future or lamenting the present doesn’t solve anything—it just leaves me depleted.
Finding the Self Worth
When life feels like an endless descent into stress and despair, there comes a point where you have to decide: stay stuck in the spiral or start climbing out. It’s not easy—fighting stress is one of the most important battles of life. But here’s the truth: it’s a battle worth fighting. Not because it promises perfection or guarantees all your dreams will come true, but because it’s the only way to reclaim your peace and live fully in the present. Winning doesn’t always mean achieving everything you’ve ever wanted; sometimes, it’s about shifting your perspective, finding contentment with what you already have, and embracing gratitude for the moments of joy and stability in your life.
For the stress caused by uncertainty, the path to winning begins with acceptance. Uncertainty is a part of life, and while it’s scary, it doesn’t have to control you. You may acknowledge the risk and potential negative outcome, but don’t let it make you be in perpetual fear. Instead of obsessing over what you can’t control, focus on what you can. Visualize yourself not as a victim of circumstance but as someone navigating through it with resilience. Winning is about finding peace in the waiting and trusting that, no matter the outcome, you would be making the choice to adapt and thrive. Visualize yourself as someone who has weathered the storm, not because everything went your way, but because you chose to rise above the chaos. Picture yourself free from the chains of stress, standing tall with a heart full of peace and a mind ready to embrace life as it comes. That’s the path of winning.
Now, the real question is – how long will you be able to stay with this visualization? It’s true—thinking you’ll fight stress and actually doing it are two very different things. The initial surge of determination often fades as the pressures and distractions of daily life take over. But here’s the key: this fight against stress isn’t won in one grand gesture. It’s a battle fought in small, consistent actions, in the choices you make every day, and in the habits, you cultivate over time. The visualization of a better, calmer you don’t have to fade—it can become a living part of your daily life if you approach it as a practice, not a fleeting resolution. You need to apply few methods to make it living part of your daily life, and you need to understand the scientific basis of these methods and practice while you apply those.
The Heart and the Mind together, is the Best Weapon
The visualization of the Win you have for yourself – you need to engrave it into your heart, and it’s not a metaphor. You might be aware (watch this to explore the concept) that your breathing rate controls your heart rate. If you are breathing deep and relax, your heart rate comes down – you feel calm and contented. If you breath fast and shallow, your heart rate goes up – you feel the burst of energy flowing through you. Now, you need to breath accordingly while you visualize about yourself in your Winning state – and you need to practice this number of times. For the part of your visualization that requires you to be calm and contended, breath deep and relaxed. For the part that requires you to be energetic, breath fast and shallow. Try to remember the number of breaths you are taking and in which sequence, and then repeat the visualization and associated breathing pattern number of times. After a while, just carrying on this breathing pattern itself will trigger the Winning visuals in you – it will bring you back the will and determination that you had felt originally – and you’ll be able to live this in your daily life without letting it fade.
Now, there is one more method that requires practicing. This method will help to be patient, and will make one persevere in the journey. You’ll have to separate out the planning and replanning effort from the execution effort – while you are working out to reach to the Winning state that you have visualized. You may take as much time and effort needed to plan a path for yourself that takes you from where you are to the Winning state – you may go over the plan number of times, may solicit inputs and guidance from your friends and family, may improvise number of times based on various considerations, and not accept it until you see it as a ready and workable plan. But once the plan is ready, and once you have accepted it and set it in motion – consider that as a phase of Execution. And try not to evaluate the worthiness of the plan on continuous basis while you are in this phase of execution, focus on the execution – and identify a milestone or situation which would be opportune trigger for the replanning, and do the same only when you encounter that.
Let’s understand the scientific basis of this method through a simpler example. Consider yourself running to catch a train. At this point, if a doctor carries out an ECG (electrocardiogram) on you – it will show up like a stress test ECG. ECG won't show much of rest period in your cardiac cycles, it would all be full of cardio electrical activities - high and low, and all the cardio-electrical activities will be needed to sustain the physical activity of running. Now at this point, what would happen if you start thinking about the consequences of missing the train? “Thinking” requires rest cycles in your cardiac state – rest cycles without a lot of cardio-electrical activities. But your body won’t be able to offer that at this point since you are running to catch the train. However, since you have started thinking about consequences of missing the train, you have pushed your body to find rest period for thinking - and that creates the stress for the body since it is not designed for that. Now with lot of adaptation and optimization, if your body manages to get some small cycles of rest period, "thinking" in small cycles would result into incomplete thinking or shallow thinking - that would turn out to be less of thinking, more of worries and anxieties. Watch this to explore the concept further.
Cultivating the habit of Winning
Once you set a plan in motion, your physical and mental cycles align with the pace and momentum of the execution – somewhat in similar way as explained above in the example. From thereon, a discipline is needed to ensure that you are not continuously thinking about the worthiness of the plan while still being engaged in the Execution – you need to curve out a time to pause the execution and replan and realign by thinking through, if such needs are felt. This discipline will ensure you have never been putting yourself into undue stress, not getting caught in worries and anxieties.
Even during the Execution, remind yourself that progress isn’t linear. There will be days when you falter, when situation feels overwhelming, and when it’s hard to keep the fight alive. But that’s okay. The process isn’t about perfection; it’s about persistence. Return to your practices, however irrelevant they may seem, and trust that each mindful breath, each moment of determination, and each step toward balance and discipline is a victory in itself.
The fight against stress and establishing the self-worth isn’t a sprint—it’s a lifelong journey. But by weaving these practices into the fabric of your everyday life, you can keep the fight alive, turning your visualization of peace, resilience, and winning into a reality you live and breathe every single day.