Not All Stress Is Bad
Stress happens to all of us. The question is whether your stress is good or bad. There are two types of stress. One is eustress and the other is distress.
While it might be common to think of every bit of stress you have as bad, good stress is actually beneficial. Whenever you encounter something in life that’s good, you feel eustress. This type of stress leads to positive outcomes.
It allows you to stay focused, accomplish tasks or goals, and maintains a positive outlook. It’s feel-good stress that you might experience with something daring like riding a roller coaster or parachuting from an airplane.
But it can also stem from something like having to give a speech or handling a new area of work at your job. You feel good because you have to stretch yourself and tackle something that makes you level up.
It can also stem from the people you encounter in your life such as your friends, family, or spouse. With eustress, the effects that you get from it are all positive. This kind helps boost your self-esteem and make you feel like you can handle anything. You feel happy with your life.
When you have eustress, it doesn’t leave you feeling drained. Instead, you feel full of energy. You may feel motivated to accomplish things and it makes you stronger mentally and physically.
Distress on the other hand isn’t good for you. This type of stress can harm your body and create mental chaos. You might find that your emotions are heightened with this type of stress.
When you experience this, it may cause you to feel that everything is coming at you all at once and you just can’t handle it. You may develop anxiety, anger, irritability, and find that you struggle to get through the day.
At work, you might feel overwhelmed rather than excited or challenged. You feel like you’re trying to do too many things and everything feels harder. You can experience either type of stress at home or work, but you can also encounter this whenever something new happens in your life, and depending on the type of stress you have, the reaction you have will greatly differ.
For example, if you’re trying something that’s outside of your comfort zone, eustress will make you feel excited to have a new encounter. Distress will only see the potential for a negative outcome.
You can spot the difference between these two types of stress based on how you feel. If you feel energized and excited in a situation, that’s good stress, but if you feel drained or overwhelmed and just want to shut down, that’s a sign you’re dealing with bad stress.
