Stress in the colloquial meaning of the word has a pejorative meaning. We blame it on our failures in professional and private life, we see bad mood and negative health consequences in it. Often, however, we do not realize that in certain situations it is stress that saves us from oppression.
What is stress?
Stress is defined as:
- stimulusthat takes place in our environment and evokes emotions in us,
- reakcja physical or mental, which occurs in contact with a stressful stimulus,
- process, defined by the relationship between us and the environment.
Types of stress
Stress has two opposing aspects. It distinguishes:
- gloomy – bad stress, negatively affecting the human condition and
- eustres – good stress, which unfortunately is rarely remembered and will be discussed now.
What is eustress?
Eustress can be described as an innate primal instinct for survival. Its characteristics are: short-lived, perceiving it as something we can handle, motivating us to act, causing excitement and stimulation, improving our efficiency and releasing large amounts of energy. Eustress is also subjective. Different people have different tolerances and thresholds for stress. What for some will be a driving force to act, for others will paralyze and cause a panic reaction.
What do we need this for?
We need stress in the short term. Here is the irrefutable evidence:
- Thanks to it, we react faster and are physically stronger. This is of great importance in situations of direct threat to health or life. When something extreme happens that threatens us directly, we often don’t have time to think. Thanks to eustress, we react instinctively almost immediately, and then every second counts.
- Without eustress, we probably wouldn’t take on life’s challenges. He motivates us and allows us to develop. Perhaps you yourself belong to this wide group of people, and if not, you certainly know those in your immediate environment who will not act until they feel the proverbial whip over them. Students before the session, efficient employees only under the watchful eye of the boss, businessmen expecting a sudden control – under the influence of stress from the outside, they suddenly get down to work. Examples could be multiplied indefinitely.
- Eustress allows us to discover and overcome our own weaknesses and limitations. Without it, no external stimuli would inform us of their existence. When we face a difficult task, stress arises. We don’t think we can do it, but then we usually start analyzing the problem and looking for a solution. Eutres can be compared to pain here, its appearance is a signal to pay more attention to the dilemma that has arisen.
- Without eustress, life would just be boring. Some people can’t live without a small dose of stress and adrenaline. They trigger them themselves by practicing, for example, extreme sports. And we all like this blissful state after eustress, which gives us relaxation, a sense of satisfaction from a job well done and faith in our own abilities.