How To Manage Stress in a Stressful World
Dr. Richard Taborga shares practical guidance for navigating chronic stress — recognizing the signs, calming the nervous system, and building everyday habits that protect mental health.
Stress is unavoidable — but how we meet it determines whether it depletes us or moves us forward. In this conversation with Fit For Joy, Dr. Richard Taborga unpacks the everyday mechanics of stress and offers a clear, compassionate framework for managing it.
Two approaches to managing stress
Dr. Taborga walks through two complementary approaches — problem-focused strategies that address the source of stress directly, and emotion-focused strategies that help regulate the body and mind when a situation can’t be changed. Knowing which to reach for, and when, is at the heart of building real resilience.
“We don’t get to control everything that happens to us — but we can choose how we prepare our minds and bodies to respond.”
Building everyday habits that protect mental health
Sustainable stress management isn’t a single technique — it’s a set of small, repeatable habits: protected sleep, intentional movement, boundaried time with people who restore you, and brief practices that calm the nervous system before it overshoots. Over time, these habits widen your window of tolerance and make life’s harder seasons more navigable.