She Strengthens

Rethinking Stress: From Anxiety to Advantage

Growing up, I was no stranger to stress. News reports, body image, exams, friends, love, loss – each stage of life brought new triggers. At 19, I started taking antidepressant medication to manage my anxiety, and over time, I learned to recognize the signs of an impending attack. But despite my best efforts, stress remained a constant companion.

The Surprising Benefits of Stress

According to the American Psychological Association, most adults experience higher levels of stress than they deem healthy. However, licensed clinical psychologist Catherine Jackson, PhD, reveals that not all stress is negative. In fact, healthy stress, or eustress, is essential to survival and comes with benefits like increased motivation, short-term immunity boosts, and improved performance.

From Distress to Eustress

While negative stress, or distress, can harm brain function and lead to anxiety, depression, or panic disorder, eustress can actually enhance brain power, memory, and learning. Dr. Jackson suggests reframing the word “stress” to “pressure” to change how we approach challenging situations. By recognizing the difference between positive and negative stress, we can learn to harness its power.

Getting to Know Your Stress Responses

Dr. Jackson recommends exploring our personal stress responses to better understand what triggers us and how we react. By identifying the sources of stress in our lives, we can develop strategies to turn negative stress into positive stress or pressure. This might involve breaking down tasks into manageable chunks, practicing until we feel more confident, or reframing our mindset.

Reframing Stress, Reframing Life

My own epiphany came when I realized that my deadline stress wasn’t actually negative. In fact, it was driving me to produce my best work. This shift in perspective has changed how I think about stress beyond just work-related tasks. By recognizing positive and negative stresses in different areas of my life, I’ve gained a new sense of control and empowerment.

Taking the First Step

Reframing stress is just the beginning. By acknowledging the benefits of eustress and learning to distinguish between positive and negative stress, we can start to transform our relationship with this complex emotion. It’s not about eliminating stress entirely, but about harnessing its power to improve our lives.