Stress can be good for you!

Stress is an unavoidable part of modern life. Bills arrive every month; kids' activities take place all year; and work never seems to slow down. It’s easy to imagine being tasked to tackle a whole new project with an extremely short deadline. This is a stressful scenario, especially when we have other responsibilities to juggle OUTSIDE of work! So, how are we meant to juggle everything and keep sane at the same time, let alone perform well?

These kinds of situations can teach us a lot about anxiety and stress. But you might be surprised to hear that this last-minute project can be healthy, depending on some key factors!

Good Stress

We all see stress as a negative emotion. However, it is good to feel stressed sometimes. Imagine you have no stress in life, life would likely be pretty boring. For example, playing a video game where there are no bad guys, doesn’t sound like much fun at all.

Positive stressors give us something to anticipate. They assist us in maturing and becoming more capable humans. Key life stressors, such as attending college, parenting small children, or starting a business can help to give the seasons in our lives meaning.

Good stress is useful in the following ways

• It provides you with a burst of energy

• It might assist you in meeting daily problems and motivating you to achieve your objectives

• It improves your concentration and focus

• It can help you complete tasks more quickly

• It can alert you when something isn’t right (the fight-or-flight response)

Let’s link back to the task with a short-deadline. In that instance, you might feel overwhelmed and nervous,- a very normal feeling to get. However, as you delve into the task more deeply, you should ask yourself two things:

• Does it feel doable?

• Is the stress temporary?

If we can find a positive answer to these two questions, chances are, this stress can be the good kind!

The effects of good stress

Life becomes more exciting with the perfect amount of healthy stress. Engagement produces good stress, which frequently leads to flow. Higher levels of happiness and productivity are related to flow. Flow is a concept in Positive Psychology that describes a state of “complete immersion in an activity”. According to many psychologists and coaches, Flow is the antidote to burnout and stagnation.

Here are 4 benefits of good stress:

• You perform better and accomplish more

• You make more meaningful connections with others

• You discover more about yourself

• You push yourself in new directions and increase your self-efficacy

Good stress promotes growth, and it helps you in a positive way in life.

So should we all see stress as a good thing?

Well, stress, even if it is beneficial, is still stress. Too much stress, of any kind, can have the same mental, bodily, and emotional consequences as any other kind of bad stress.

But we shall delve deeper into this topic in a future blog post. Until then, we would like you to think about some of the stress that you guys are facing. Do you think they are positive?