Relax Within ~ Jan R. Markle

Do We Need Stress?

So life without any stress is what we are striving for, right?

Imagine going to an island where there was no stress. How long would you be happy? (This is a good way to measure how stressed you are at this moment. The longer you wish you could stay at the island with no stress, the higher your present stress usually is.)

After a while on this island, what would probably happen? You'd get bored (boredom is a stress) and want something interesting to do.

Some stress is necessary and desireable as it makes life interesting. A stress that we relate to as a challenge (within our coping abilities) prompts us to act and we accomplish a goal. But too much stress, beyond what we feel cabable of doing, causes us anxiety and fear and causes us to make mistakes.

Our quality of performance is related to our level of stress. Too little stress and we're bored, as retired people or people with unsatisfying jobs might discover. An increase in stress, still within what we are capable of handling, is productive for us and encourages us to perform or accomplish, up to a certain point. That's our "optimum performance range." Actors usually say that a certain amount of nervousness before going on stage is good, because they know that they can turn that stress into a strong performance.

Any stress beyond what we think we can handle though, causes our performance to decline. We make mistakes and feel anxiety.

"Don't take my stress away- its' the only thing holding me together!"

Some people think they rely on stress to keep themselves going. It's true that feeling stressed can create changes in your body that may temporarily increase your energy and alertness but if used habitually, these body changes are costly to your health.

We all need a certain amount of stress to keep us moving forward but if the stress that's keeping you going is short deadlines, anger, rushing, constant worry and too much to do, then there are better ways (like stress management) to hold yourself together, accomplish the same results and feel a lot better.