You wake up in the morning to the loud sound of your alarm. A series of events will happen from the moment you get up out of bed until you reach the office. These may either lure you towards good and positive energy for the whole day, or it may just cause you to be in a bad mood for the rest of the day. And in the course of these events comes STRESS. A lot of people have a negative connotation with this word, especially when you combine the words “stress” and “work” in one sentence. But what most people don’t know is that experiencing stress is part of what makes us human, unless it becomes too overwhelming.
What is Eustress?
It is the Good Stress which is vital for our well-being. Just as when you get overloaded at work. You might feel stressed, but you get excited thinking about it because you see it as a challenge rather than a threat. This is how you develop the good kind of stress. You get to be more alert and energetic towards tasks when you consider them as fun activities and you know you will be able to achieve a certain goal once you finish them. Eustress is finding balance and using your energy to form a positive chain reaction to these challenges. The way you perceive things greatly affects how you manage stress. If you consider everything as threatening and tiresome, you’ll eventually fall into the loop of distress. But once you’re able to feel excitement about different things happening (like taking a chance on that promotion which your boss has been telling you about for weeks!), you’ll be able to balance out your energy and think through the steps you need to take in overcoming the challenges. However, you may also need to give yourself some time to relax because too much stress (in all kinds of forms) can really drain you.
No one has an easy job. All types of work require energy, and all have a level of difficulty which can make us feel stressed out. But a change in perception and reaction can greatly affect how we can manage the stress. Too much tasks at hand? Organize. Prioritize. Stress may strain you, but you could always look at the bigger picture. Besides, you’re the boss of your own life. Why be too stressed out about it?