Stress and Change

Stress, Change, and the Strange Joy of Being Challenged

Sometimes I wonder if challenges aren’t just a part of life — maybe they are the point of life. Every time I think I’ve reached a plateau, something new arrives to stretch me, bend me, or wake me up again.

Last week I wrapped up an On-Camera Acting class. I signed up hoping to expand my range, to explore styles I hadn’t touched, and to see what else might be possible in front of a lens. Each week brought new scripts, new genres, new assignments, and new ways of seeing myself. To call it a challenge would be an understatement. To do it well would require a full-time job… and I already have two.

But I learned. Oh, I learned. I learned what I’m capable of. I learned how much can be done when I stop assuming I’m too busy or too tired. I learned that growth doesn’t wait for convenience — it waits for commitment.

And apparently I was energized enough to sign up for another course: Clown 201 at Rise Comedy. With the work I’m doing at Meow Wolf, surrounded by circus performers, clowns, burlesque artists, and wildly creative humans, I wanted to deepen my ability to play, connect, and respond. Two weeks in, I already feel myself shifting. More connected. More present. More aware of the world around me. And yes — more scared. These assignments are personal, introspective, physically demanding, emotionally revealing. They ask for honesty. They ask for vulnerability. They ask for me.

🦴 Stress Creates Change — Literally

In personal training, I learned about Wolff’s Law, Julius Wolff’s 19th-century theory that bones remodel themselves when stress is applied. Stress creates change. It’s true in the body, but it’s also true everywhere else.

• Physical stress → physical change
• Mental stress → new thoughts, new behaviors
• Emotional stress → emotional evolution

We grow because something pushes us. We develop because something stretches us. We transform because something demands it.

🎭 The Age Thing (Again)

I’ve been thinking about my age lately — I’ve written about it before, and here I am again. I keep putting myself in rooms where most people are half my age. It only becomes obvious when assignments involve time stamps, cultural references, songs, movies, or moments that make younger folks bond instantly over shared nostalgia.

Another challenge. Another stretch. Another reminder that I am choosing to grow.

And honestly? I see it as a gift.

Stress does create change. It can be positive or negative depending on how we perceive it, how we respond to it, and whether we allow it to shape us instead of shrink us. I seem to keep choosing situations that challenge me because challenge is growth — and growth is youth. Growth is vitality. Growth is fluidity of thought, compassion, awareness, strength.

Maybe I’m using stress to keep myself young. If so… I’m loving it. Loving life. Loving the person I’m becoming.

❤️ So I’ll Ask You…

What are you doing to love yourself today?