Stress can be about changing lifestyles.

Many people feel that life has become more stressful, although those who have successfully leveraged technology and established a satisfying balance of health, wellness, and work may not feel that way! Our access to food from different geographic areas, mass transportation, communication, and other privileges are enjoyed by many people. 

Stress can be about power.

Many of us feel more stressed when we feel powerless to change the way things are. Stress is an equal opportunity opponent: it affects people of every age and every culture, regardless of whether you are male or female.

Stress can be about self-esteem.

When our self-esteem is high, we feel more powerful and therefore less reactive to negative stressors. When our self-esteem is low, we feel like we have no power to make any changes and that can cause us more stress.

Stress is about change in our environment.

Change can be exciting when it brings something we look forward to, even if we have to do extra work to get the changes into place. Unexpected change, though, can bring negative stress with it, even though we can see that the change itself has many positive aspects. If we don’t like the situation we find ourselves in, if we are familiar with being in that situation, or if we feel that at least we know what will happen when we are in the situation, we find it less stressful than when we are stepping into the unknown.

People who make comments about not liking change or not being adaptable could benefit from some intervention and stress-reduction techniques, because the world continues to change rapidly, and we are forced to change along with it, whether we want to or not.

Flexibility

Being flexible can reduce stress! Try sitting at a different spot at the table occasionally, taking a different route to work, changing your hairstyle, or going somewhere different to experience different foods.

Eustress

Don’t forget that stress isn’t all bad. In 1974, Richard Lazarus defined the term “eustress” to describe healthy or positive stress. The prefix –eu comes from the Greek word that means “well” or “good,” making eustress (good stress) distinct from the negative associations of distress.

Positive stress motivates, increases energy levels, and can drive people forward to embrace the work before them.

What about having no stress at all? An absence of stress can actually lead to boredom or frustration. When people who enjoy a variety of activities as a part of their day suddenly find themselves all caught up and with some free time on their hands, they can actually become bored and experience feelings of fatigue. A balance of positive stress is ideal, although the human component to this is that each person responds to stress individually. That means what is good stress for one person can be negative for another.