Using Tension as a Tool: Turning Discomfort into Strength
What do you feel when you think of the word tension? Maybe it’s a furrowed brow, a tightening in the shoulders, or a clenching of the jaw? Why wouldn’t you want to avoid such an uncomfortable feeling?
The Miriam Webster Dictionary defines tension as “inner striving, unrest, or imbalance, often with physiologic indication of emotion”, but also as “a balance maintained in an artistic work between opposing forces or elements.”
It’s normal to try to smooth over any sense of discomfort as soon as it arises. But what if you reframed tension as a tool—something to be explored and used to your advantage? Something that might even help you to create balance in your life and greater satisfaction in your medical practice. In this article, we’ll explore the ways that you can make tension work for you.
Tension as a Stimulus
Tension is a natural part of growth. In the body, muscles strengthen when they are challenged with resistance.
In the mind, as with art, breakthroughs happen when we hold space for competing ideas and perspectives. And in personal and professional development, tension often signals the moments where change is possible.
Tension as a Signal
As a physician, you may experience tension as a pull between the demands of patient care and personal well-being, or between your role as a trusted healer and the bureaucratic realities of modern healthcare. Instead of always seeing this as a burden, what if you used it as a signal to reassess, reprioritize, and innovate?
As a coach, I work with physicians who may yearn for immediate relief from career dissatisfaction, burnout, or decision fatigue. But sustainable change doesn’t usually come from escaping tension—it comes from staying with it long enough to understand what it’s trying to reveal.
The tension between wanting stability and craving change, between honoring commitments and protecting personal boundaries, can become the catalyst for transformation when approached with curiosity instead of resistance.
Tension as a Creative Tool
Tension in a work of art—whether through contrast, unexpected juxtapositions, or asymmetry—creates interest. A perfectly balanced, symmetrical photograph might be beautiful, but it can also be forgettable, lost in a sea of similar work. It’s the unexpected tension in a frame that pulls the viewer in, making them linger and engage.
The same is true in problem-solving. Whether you are navigating career decisions, leadership dynamics, or personal dilemmas, the most creative and impactful solutions often emerge from the friction between opposing forces. This idea can also be applied to patient care, for instance when trying to devise a complex treatment plan for a patient with competing health and personal issues.
When you try to escape tension, it can be tempting to settle for the easiest answer instead of the best one. Instead, if you stay with the discomfort a little longer, you may allow space for deeper insight and more creative approaches.
Using Tension Intentionally
Just as yoga can teach you to breathe through physical tension rather than fight it, we can apply the same principle to mental and professional challenges. By leaning into discomfort with awareness, you allow yourself room to experience growth.
Pause Instead of Reacting
When you feel tension -- whether in a difficult conversation, a contentious committee meeting, or an internal conflict—take a moment to pause. Instead of immediately resolving the discomfort by taking the path of least resistance, ask yourself “What is this tension telling me?”
Reframe Tension as Information
Instead of trying to scape it, view tension as a source of data. If a decision is difficult, what values or priorities are in conflict? If a conversation is uncomfortable, what truths might need to be acknowledged?
Use Tension to Expand Possibilities
In my coaching practice, I often ask my clients “What if you didn’t have to choose one or the other? What if both things could be true?” Tension can lead to a binary mindset, an either/or perspective, but staying with it can reveal more nuanced, integrated, and interesting solutions.
Apply Tension to Leadership and Communication
Great leaders use tension productively. Instead of avoiding difficult conversations or suppressing dissent, they recognize that discomfort can lead to clarity, deeper alignment, and stronger teams. Productive tension—when handled with respect—can push individuals and teams toward innovation and better decision-making that makes room for everyone’s perspective.
Let Tension Strengthen Your Work
Whether you’re navigating a career transition, leading a team, or developing a new project, tension signals that something important is at stake. Instead of smoothing things over too soon, ask yourself: How can I use this tension to create something better?
Leaning into Tension
When used mindfully, tension can deepen your thinking, sharpen your skills, and lead to better outcomes in virtually any aspect of your life.
Instead of asking, How do I get rid of this tension? try asking yourself, What can this tension teach me? That shift in perspective might be the key to unlocking your next breakthrough.
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