Stamina: What It Is and How It Can Help Us Expand During Stress
When we think of stamina, we often think of physical endurance—how long we can run, work out, or perform physically demanding tasks. But stamina goes beyond physical energy; it’s also a mental and emotional resource that helps us manage stress, stay focused, and persevere through life’s challenges. Developing stamina is essential for expanding our resilience to stress, allowing us to meet demands with a steady, grounded presence.
In this post, we’ll explore what stamina means in a holistic sense, how it impacts our response to stress, and practical ways to build stamina to improve our resilience and well-being.
What is Stamina?
Stamina is the ability to sustain engagement over an extended period. While physical stamina often comes to mind first, true stamina includes mental and emotional endurance. It allows us to keep going, stay focused, and maintain our energy and positivity even in stressful situations.
When we have high stamina, we’re less likely to feel mentally exhausted or emotionally drained by challenging experiences. Instead, stamina supports us in taking on tasks with resilience and the confidence that we can keep going. This is especially important during times of high stress when our resources are stretched, and we need extra endurance to manage competing demands.
Stamina is not a fixed trait; it can be cultivated and developed through intentional habits and practices. By building our stamina, we increase our ability to face challenges without becoming overwhelmed, making stress feel more manageable and our responses more balanced.
How Stamina Helps Us During Stress
Stamina plays a crucial role in helping us navigate stress with strength and clarity. Here are a few ways stamina supports us in stressful situations:
- Sustains Focus and Productivity: Stamina helps us maintain focus over long periods, preventing burnout. This is especially helpful when we’re juggling multiple tasks or experiencing prolonged stress.
- Prevents Emotional Exhaustion: Emotional stamina allows us to handle tough situations without feeling overwhelmed. It gives us the resilience to process our emotions in a healthy way, reducing the likelihood of emotional fatigue or burnout.
- Supports Decision-Making: When we’re under stress, stamina helps us stay clear-headed and avoid impulsive decisions. Instead, we’re able to assess situations thoughtfully, making choices that align with our values and goals.
By building stamina, we strengthen our overall resilience to stress, making it easier to face challenges and recover from setbacks.
Ways to Build Stamina and Expand Resilience to Stress
Increasing stamina involves a combination of physical, mental, and emotional practices. Here are some ways to cultivate each type of stamina for better resilience during stressful times:
Build Physical Stamina
Physical stamina provides the foundation for mental and emotional endurance. When our body is healthy and strong, we have more energy to handle stress.
- Engage in Easy Cardiovascular Exercise: Activities like walking, running, swimming, and cycling increase cardiovascular endurance, which builds stamina over time. Aim for consistent, moderate exercise a few times a week to improve energy levels.
- Incorporate Easy Strength Training: Building muscle strength supports overall endurance. Lifting weights, doing bodyweight exercises, or practicing resistance training can improve stamina by boosting both strength and energy.
- Prioritize Rest and Recovery: Physical stamina grows when we allow time for recovery. Quality sleep and rest days help repair muscles and replenish energy, which boosts resilience.
- Support Your Flow Systems: Want to boost your stamina through all of your body’s flow systems? My “10in10” video series dives into the physical, emotional, and energetic systems that support long-term stamina. It’s a free email series of 10 videos – sign up here.
Cultivate Mental Stamina
Mental stamina involves staying focused, alert, and productive without feeling mentally fatigued. Building mental stamina helps us stay engaged and attentive even during high-stress periods.
- Practice Focused Meditation: Meditation trains the mind to stay present, building mental endurance. Even a few minutes a day can improve concentration, helping us stay grounded when tasks pile up. I’ve created a series of meditations that have all been designed to support your mental clarity and emotional calm.
- Challenge Yourself with Puzzles or Learning: Activities that challenge the brain, like puzzles, reading, or learning a new skill, build mental stamina. Just as muscles grow through exercise, the brain strengthens through challenge and focus.
- Take Short Breaks: Short, regular breaks during the day prevent mental fatigue. Step away from tasks for a few minutes every hour to recharge your focus and maintain energy.
Strengthen Emotional Stamina
Emotional stamina allows us to navigate difficult emotions without feeling overwhelmed. This form of endurance helps us stay calm and compassionate, even under pressure.
- Practice Self-Compassion: Being kind to yourself during tough moments reduces emotional fatigue. Self-compassion reminds us that struggle is part of life, creating a supportive mindset that fosters resilience.
- Engage in Emotional Release: Allowing yourself to express and release emotions—through journaling, talking to a friend, or practicing creative expression—can build emotional stamina. Letting emotions flow prevents them from becoming stored, which can drain energy.
- Schedule a BodyTalk Session: Stamina depends on emotional and mental clarity, and BodyTalk helps process stuck emotions and subconscious patterns. If you’re looking to build deeper emotional stamina, BodyTalk helps rewire limiting thought loops and supports emotional flow for resilience.
- Develop a Support Network: Having trusted people to lean on during stressful times increases our emotional resilience. Connecting with others provides strength and perspective, expanding our capacity to handle stress.
- Get Scanned: Stamina often gets zapped by what we can’t see—like hidden inflammation or subtle stagnation in the body. Thermography is a powerful, non-invasive tool that maps your body’s flow systems and identifies dysfunction before symptoms arise. This proactive approach helps you tailor your wellness path, restore energy, and prevent burnout. Learn more here.
Tips for Building Stamina on High-Stress Days
Even when we’ve built stamina, some days feel particularly challenging. Here are a few tips to keep your stamina up on high-stress days:
- Breathe Deeply and Slow Down: When stress is high, take a few minutes to breathe deeply. Focusing on your breath calms the nervous system, recharging your energy and helping you stay grounded.
- Limit Multitasking: Trying to do too much at once drains mental and emotional stamina quickly. Focus on one task at a time to conserve energy and maintain clarity.
- Stay Hydrated and Nourished: Fueling your body with water and nutritious food supports physical stamina, helping you maintain energy and focus throughout the day.
Stamina, Bandwidth, and Capacity: Understanding the Differences
While stamina, bandwidth, and capacity are all related to how we manage stress, they each have distinct roles:
- Stamina refers to our ability to sustain effort over time, particularly in the face of challenges. It represents the strength and endurance that keep us going, especially during prolonged stress.
- Bandwidth is the amount of mental or emotional energy we have available in a given moment. It reflects our immediate resources to handle current demands.
- Capacity encompasses our overall resilience and ability to manage stress over the long term. It’s the “container” within which our stamina and bandwidth operate.
By increasing stamina, we strengthen our physical, mental, and emotional resources, which expands our bandwidth on a daily basis and increases our capacity over time. Together, these three elements—stamina, bandwidth, and capacity—give us the resilience to handle life’s challenges with greater ease and balance.
Final Thoughts: Stamina as a Foundation for Resilience
Building stamina provides a foundation of strength that supports us through life’s ups and downs. By developing our physical, mental, and emotional endurance, we’re better equipped to face stress without feeling overwhelmed. Whether it’s through exercise, meditation, or self-compassion, the practices that build stamina ultimately empower us to handle stress with grace and resilience.
As we cultivate stamina, we expand our ability to respond to challenges with calm and confidence. Embracing the power of stamina can transform our approach to stress, helping us live with greater strength, endurance, and balance.
Build Your Stamina with Ask for More
Stamina is the foundation for resilience. In Ask for More, discover how to strengthen your endurance, stay energized, and thrive even under pressure.
