Tag: stress

Stress Is What You Think It Is

So Be Careful What You Think…

It’s often said that life is 10% about what happens to you and 90% about what you do with what happens to you. That’s why some people overcome seemingly insurmountable odds to achieve great success.

Reaction vs. Response

Stress responseOur split-second reaction when something happens is based on our history of conditioning and responses in similar situations. We can’t control that reaction in the moment. But in the seconds and minutes that follow we do get to decide how we’ll respond: Follow our conditioning or choose something different. Choosing a different response creates new conditioning that will not only change our present course but also influence future reactions. Continue reading Stress Is What You Think It Is

Stress is a Good Thing…

Or Not!

Part of a leader’s job is to create stress.

But before you get stressed about that statement, let’s dig a little deeper.

Eustress vs. Distress

StressIn 1974, Hungarian endocrinologist Hans Selye introduced the term “Eustress” (Greek prefix “eu-“ means “good) to distinguish positive stress from its negative form, “distress”.

Stress, in itself, is a normal response to pressure. Putting weight on a steel beam will stress that beam. As long as the beam has the capacity to carry that weight, the beam is just doing what it was made for. Put more weight on it than it can handle and that beam will be in a state of distress.

Human beings are more complex than steel beams, so our stress may come in different forms, such as physical, emotional, mental, or relational. But stress is essential to growth. Your muscles, for example, will become weak if never stressed. Change always creates stress, and without it we can’t change and therefore can’t grow. Continue reading Stress is a Good Thing…