subject: The Other Side of Stress--Eustress [print this page] The Other Side of Stress--Eustress The Other Side of Stress--Eustress
Many people think stress is always a negative experience. We grew up hearing people say, "This is awful, I am too stressed out!" or "I do not think I can handle more stress now" or "I would trade anything just to get rid of these stressful experiences." These statements give an impression that stress is a pretty ugly thing to experience in life. Not everyone is aware that stress can also be a positive thing. As a matter of fact, stress has two facesdistress and eustress. The former is the stress depicted by the above statements, it is the type that one would want to avoid experiencing. The latter is the so-called positive stress.
Two individuals with differing personalities, background, experiences, and resources may perceive a particular situation in two different light. The other may claim it as a negative stressful experience while the other might say otherwise. The normal case is perceiving anything that poses threat, or anything that tests one's ability or capability, or anything that obliges for a rapid change is definitely a stressful experience. But researchers say, individuals have different responses to different situations. Apparently, the experience of stress has different effect on different individuals. People experience stress in different ways. And this is because, stress is a subjective experience. Many studies enumerate several factors that play a significant role in influencing a person's perception on stress. A person may see an experience as either challenging (which leads to eustress or positive stress) or threatening (which leads to distress or negative stress).
A number of academic researches conclude that apart from skills and experiences of an individual, he has another resource in coping with stress. And this is his social relationships. His level of relationships with people play a role. Strength and number of social relationships have impact on countering the ill effects of stress in a person's life. It definitely and greatly influences the effect of an experience to the life of the person. Stress surrounds us on a daily basis. It is an everyday phenomenon that we cannot just get rid off. It is everywhere around us. It may actually be from within us. No one is spared from it. Even the kids, even the animals. They too experience stress.
To find out more about positive stress and other stress-related information, visit http://getridofstress.com.
