Everyone experiences stress to some degree in their everyday lives. Stress cannot be totally eliminated from your life. You probably wouldn’t want to avoid all stress, anyway. That would mean that your life was pretty dull. Remember, some stress comes from happy events, such as graduation or going on vacation. A moderate amount of stress can give us more energy and motivation to succeed.
Beyond keeping life interesting and exciting, stress has several other benefits.
When you rehearse or prepare for a potential situation that may be stressful, such as a natural disaster, you are also educating yourself. Learning about disaster preparedness may not only reduce the stress you feel before and after the disaster occurs, but may also provide knowledge that will help you cope with day-to-day problems. The fight-or-flight reaction that takes over after a disaster can help you to help yourself and others.
Preparing for a disaster or doing something to reduce the risk of disaster gives you some control over the situation and can help reduce stress. When you survive disasters, you gain new feelings of confidence and of self-esteem; you have mastered a tremendous challenge.
A moderate amount of stress can help improve athletic performance. You need some stress or stimulation to do your best. A little stress can be useful, increasing your performance and efficiency. However, a lot of stress or continuous stress can lead to a bad performance.
Change can be stressful, but it can also be viewed as an opportunity. Change may help you improve the quality of your life by giving you new choices. When you deal with stress, you have an opportunity to re-evaluate your life, to set new goals and priorities, and to improve relationships. Stress can be beneficial, but only in a moderate amount, and only when you try to cope with it. You cannot eliminate all stress, but you can deal with it in many ways, and that is how you can improve your life.
You can look at stress and your efforts to cope with stress as a challenge and an opportunity. Successfully coping with stress can improve your self-esteem and competence. When you deal with your stress, you grow as a person. By using problem-solving skills and finding alternatives to stressful situations, you may find your life going in a new direction.