Eustress? What in the world is that?

Most of us know about stress–having experienced it first hand. We’ve mostly been taught that stress is bad for us and, for better health, we need to reduce or even eliminate stress in our lives.

Well, we know we can’t eliminate all stress–it’s part of life.

So, what about coping with stress? I have an earlier post that provides some helpful strategies for dealing appropriately with stress. 

But, what about good stress?

What?

There’s good stress?

Yes! There is good stress–that’s Eustress. It’s the joy and excitement we feel at momentous occasions such as weddings, graduations, and the birth of a child..

There are two types of stress. Distress is negative. Examples might be missing a deadline at work, being late to pick up your child at school, or experiencing a tragedy. This type of stress causes worry, anxiety, fear, and emotional upheaval. Distress can most definitely have a negative impact on our health if prolonged episodes of negative stress are a regular part of our lives. Distress is the type of stress that we want to reduce or find ways to manage appropriately.

Eustress, on the other hand, is positive stress (as long as we don’t overdo it). Weddings are a beautiful part of our lives, but we need to balance that stress as well. A wedding can go from beautiful to painful if we don’t manage our emotions appropriately.

Another example of Eustress is a vacation.

We look forward to getting away for a vacation because it makes us feel better. It’s a break from work or school. Or perhaps we just need a change of scenery–an escape from the mundane. We hope to come back rejuvenated and once again able to face the “stress” of our daily lives. The Eustress aspect of a vacation is the joy, excitement, and enthusiasm we feel. However, we need to be careful that we don’t overdo or plan too many activities. A vacation should be a time to relax and enjoy our time with family and being away from work.

Eustress is also the type of stress that helps us face our responsibilities each day. Sometimes we’d like to sleep in–cover our heads with the pillow and skip work. But, we know our family depends on us, that we have bills to pay, and a commitment to our career.

Eustress serves to help us complete those daily tasks that are a part of being a contributing member of society. That’s not to say that our job is always easy–on the contrary completing all the tasks required to honor our family and career commitments can be very stressful. But, Eustress helps us in our daily lives, to uphold our responsibilities to our loved ones.

And, there’s love…

Hopefully, our relationships are mostly Eustress (joy, commitment, security), but what relationship doesn’t have some distress, too? Recently, I’ve had some wonderful Eustress–the birth of my first grandchild. It’s been an amazing week!

What is the Eustress you have in your life? Are you thankful for that joy, enthusiasm, excitement, commitment, and love? Even when you get a little of the negative stress thrown in?

Wishing you much Eustress, my friends!