Remember, it’s not what you “do” in the sense of dealing directly with a stressful challenge that optimizes your personal control. It’s what you choose as your guiding thoughts that can give you genuine personal control. When you’re guided by your core values, you may still be feeling a high degree of stress (if your alarm continues to tell you there is a problem or a threat), but you have the certainty of knowing that whatever you choose to do will be a way of not only dealing with stress but also living your core values.
