What Kind of Stress Do You Suffer From?
Stress is an alteration, a state of nervousness in which we find ourselves before a situation that demands a lot from us. When we must perform at a much higher level than usual, during the time period right before tests for example, stress peeks its head out the door.
Stress can be good any time that it helps us to buckle down and concentrate. However, it can also be bad and disable us when it is time to carry out the tasks that we must complete. Today, you will learn about the types of stress that you can suffer from.
When you know your type of stress, you will be able to face it in the best way. Which is your type?
“The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another”
-William James-
Eustress
Eustress is a very positive type of stress. It is a stimulating and motivating stress that favors the good performance of the person who is experiencing it. Eustress fills you with vitality, with an energy that until that moment had been considered burned out or absent.
In which situations is eustress beneficial? One example would be exam week when we know that we have to study, but we do not manage to make ourselves do it. Many people need to wait until the day right before the exam to feel eustress and for it to motivate them to concentrate and perform in a way that they have not in the days before.
This stress also increases your creative capacities . Imagine that there is a new project at your company and you need to bring something new and original to the table. You need ideas!
Eustress can increase the potential for these ideas that you were not having before. The problem with eustress? It does not show up until the last minute and biologically speaking, we also cannot maintain this state for very long.
Distress
The opposite of eustress, distress is very negative. It is an unpleasant type of stress that always shows up in the face of a threat. Anxiety, panic, or fear are some of the symptoms that are seen in a person who is suffering from distress.
Distress can show up in light of a lost job, a sickness that a family member is suffering, an accident, etc. It is a situation that changes all at once, something that we did no see coming and that surprises us. Concretely, it can be said that a change in our routine, in our lives, can bring along distress.
“Pressures are good, worries are good; however, when they are excessive, they are a venom that kills”
-Bernardo Stamateas-
But this is not the worst part. Freeing ourselves from this type of stress is very difficult. We will need to fight hard, to be strong enough to confront it so that it cannot overcome us. Particularly because distress can end up causing illnesses .
You probably start with colds, allergies, or eczema that start being habitual. But this can trigger more serious ailments. So, be careful with distress! Do not let it defeat you.
Hyperstress
Hyperstress is when we are overwhelmed by excessive emotional sensations. We are not able to process these emotions and this is why we end up being overwhelmed.
When does hyperstress pop up? When we are doing an activity that is demanding excessive effort on our parts. Let us think about work again, which often demands a truly superhuman effort. We are giving more than we can give, we end up going beyond our limits, and the least thing can make us explode.
Anger destroys us; it is something that can show up at any time. As soon as we have to put in even more effort, an emotional explosion will be set off and it will be impossible to contain it.
Hypostress
Hypostress appears when we are bored and lacking motivation. It is a very different type of stress from those that we have seen up to now. A stress whose cause is not pressure, but the exact opposite.
This type of stress affects restless, highly creative people who are forced to carry out repetitive tasks. They may even feel blocked or not be able to do what they want to for various reasons. In this state, this type of person becomes stressed. They have a need for new experiences, a need to have jobs that demand continuous learning and experiencing new things.
You will identify with this stress if there is a moment during your vacations when you need to go back to work, to start having goals again, pressure…Is this your type of stress?
These four types of stress can appear as a combination or in different situations in our lives. But there is always one that is more dominant than the others. Do you suffer from eustress, but also hypostress? Share with us which is your type of stress.
